


Activated

by yutorin



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Also I don't speak any of the languages spoken in this fic, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, And Keito loves Yuto, Animal Onesie, Ariyama as hit men, Because I can't keep the yakuza out of my fics, Canada, Crossdressing, Daiki likes to blow things up, Disguise, Drug Dealing, Explosions, Gangsters, Like people die but they're the bad people, Limousines, Lots of Gadgets, M/M, Murder...kinda?, Originally Posted in 2016, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, So...there's that, Takanoo as the Deception Duo, Torture, Yuto loves his plane, yes Ryutaro is in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 17:15:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20839139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yutorin/pseuds/yutorin
Summary: Special Agent team H.E.Y.S.A.Y.J.U.M.P. had never gotten a mission of their own, and now that they were being given the opportunity to prove themselves to their organization, they weren't going to let this chance slip through their fingers.





	1. Chapter 1

"Look at your little ears!" Keito did his best to stand still while Chinen flitted around him, a tape measure in hand. Yuto reached over Chinen's head, fingers outstretched to touch one of the ears on Keito's bear suit, but Chinen pushed himself up onto his tip-toes, smacking Yuto's hand out of the way.

"Don't touch that, there are nanobombs in there." The little inventor deadpanned, and Yuto froze for a moment before slowly retracting his hand. Keito giggled at the look on Yuto's face, reaching up and ruffling his hair teasingly. Chinen grabbed at his arm, holding it in place and saying "Don't move." He wrapped his tape measure around Keito's bicep, pausing for a moment to make sure he had the reading right, before sighing. "Your arms are bigger again. Why do you keep working out so much? Your main focus isn't combat." Keito murmured an apology, not quite sure why it mattered when it came to an outfit as loosely fitting as this one. Chinen just pulled the hood of his bear suit down and fiddled with the built in com set. "Strip, you're done." Chinen declared. "Just be careful of the retractable claws."

"What?" Keito looked at the furry paw shaped gloves he was wearing. They looked harmless.

"Is it this button?" Yuto asked, leaning in and jabbing Keito right in the belly button. Black powder exploded all across the room, engulfing them in darkness at once. Startled, Keito reached out in the dark for Yuto at once, but remembering Chinen's warning about the claws he froze, Chinen's voice coming from around his right shoulder

"And that would be the instant darkness powder I've been working on. Thanks Yuto."

"Instant darkness...you mean like in Harry Potter?" Yuto asked as there was a rustling, and the sound of a fan being turned on. Chinen snorted.

"That's exactly what Daiki said too. No. Mine is better. Mine is real." As they talked, things started to become visible again, and as the powder was sucked up into the fan, Keito found to his great to surprise that the dust wasn't clinging to his skin or his outfit. In fact no one looked dusty, Chinen's lab coat still the same pristine white it had been when they'd entered the room. The powder was all being pulled into the fan, like a curtain on a string. It was interesting, and he reached out to try and touch it, but his gloved hand just passed through the blackness untouched, landing on Chinen's counter top instead. As soon as his palm hit, long metal spikes sprang from the ends of his gloved fingers, and he jumped in surprise. Chinen pursed his lips.

"I warned you about the claws. Now get out of here before you end up causing real trouble, the both of you." They promptly did as they were told, Chinen peeking out if his lab to call after them "Tell Yuya I need him! It's his turn to get fitted!"

"Why do we need custom made animal suits anyway?" Yuto asked as the two of them turned a corner, heading in the direction of Takaki's usual section of the base. Keito shrugged.

"Hikaru requested them." Yuto nodded in understanding.

They were all members of a secret branch of the Japanese government, trained for espionage and field work inside and outside of the law. Their organization was Japan’s best kept secret, and they had been since the sixties. Many of them had been trained since birth, others recruited as children and teens. Keito had been a part of it since his early teens, and he was considered a late bloomer. He and Yuto, along with seven others, were a team, all of them working collaboratively to run training scenarios, eating and living together. They’d been a team for years, working within the confines of headquarters. One day, with any luck, they’d be assigned a mission, and they would get to prove their worth to their country, and to themselves.

Hikaru was their best when it came to anything and everything espionage, and he was also the most experienced agent on the team. He was someone that they all respected and looked up to, and so he was rarely questioned. "I think he just wanted to see if Chinen would actually do it though." Keito conceded, and Yuto giggled as they rounded the last bend to find themselves in front of a dead end. It would have seemed perfectly innocent, a strange mistake in the building's design, except that painted in ominous red letters on the wall were the words _MASTERS OF DISGUISE._ They had been crossed out, and scrawled above it were the words _The Deception Duo,_ which had been done in solid pink glitter.

It was a sight be behold, and it always put a smile on Keito's face. They pushed on the wall and it swung open, revealing what looked like an elaborate dressing room, a blond woman sitting in front of the mirror, affixing long fake eyelashes to her face. She smiled at them as they entered and they both waved, asking

"Inoo, where's Takaki? Chinen wants him." Inoo brushed his fake blonde hair away from his face and stood, taller than the both of them in four inch heels.

"He was just fixing his nose." Inoo said casually, gesturing for them to follow him as he made his way further back into the room. They came to a wall of faces, prosthetic chins and ears and body parts of all sorts, and sure enough Takaki was back there, already sporting a full fake beard and dirty blonde wig, slightly darker than Inoo's. He waved in greeting, before returning his attention to the mirror in front of him, focusing as he affixed a prosthetic nose over top his own, giving himself a more severe, stern appearance.

"Takaki, Chinen said he wants you. It's about those animal costumes Hikaru asked for." Keito informed the older man, and Takaki sighed.

"I was nearly done too." He grabbed one end of his beard, peeling it away from his face. "Hold this for a moment." The beard was plopped into Keito's hands, and he froze, holding it gingerly, not sure what he was supposed to do with it. It felt amazingly, weirdly realistic, and he couldn't help but ask

"Is this...real hair?"

"Trade secret!" Inoo declared, just as Takaki replied with

"Yak." Keito decided that he didn't want to know. Keito shuffled around behind Takaki as he put away all of his prosthetic hair, Yuto and Inoo chatting lightheartedly until Takaki was much less hairy and Keito was declared to no longer be of service. They said goodbye to Inoo, taking off back down the hallway, and Takaki split away from them after a few turns, heading toward Chinen's lab.

"Now maybe we can finally get down to the track." Yuto declared. Keito nodded, smiling at the way Yuto's voice rang with enthusiasm. They all had their specialties, and Yuto was the team's best when it came to operating any type of vehicle. He practiced working with many, many types of transportation on a regular basis. Once they finally got a real, proper mission, Keito was sure Yuto's talents would make him indispensable. Keito joined him in practice whenever he got the chance. It was exhilarating, riding along, or occasionally racing next to him in a vehicle of his own as Yuto took them drifting around tight corners and weaving through obstacle courses at breakneck speeds.

"Will you drive today? I was thinking I'd work with those big old RVs. I've been wondering how fast I can get one of those to go." Yuto asked, as they changed directions once again, this time headed for the garage. Keito shook his head

"I've got some sound bytes I need to listen to. My political vocabulary isn't quite up to where I'd like."

"You just started at the beginning of the month right? And you're already on the political vocabulary? I thought Finnish was supposed to be a difficult language." Keito shrugged.

"It's got some similarities with Estonian and Hungarian, so it hasn't been so bad. Do you remember any of it?"

_"Haista paska!"_ Yuto declared. The accent was all wrong, but the triumphant fashion with which he said the vulgar words made Keito laugh. While Yuto was good with vehicles, Keito's specialty was language. He'd always had an affinity for it, and he was constantly learning new languages, constantly adding to his library of knowledge of the human word. He was up into the high thirties and counting. By this point he'd streamlined the process. It was a fun challenge seeing just how fast he could master one. The quickest so far had been Korean, at two and a half weeks.

"Katsella suusi!" A familiar voice called, and Keito looked up to see Hikaru striding toward them, the superior agent's mouth upturned on one side in a teasing smirk. Yuto waved as the older man approached, altering his course to intersect with Hikaru's path.

"Wanna come with us? Keito's just a passenger this time; I could use something in my rearview mirror to give the illusion of a competitor." The jab was said lightly, Yuto giving Hikaru a look full of anticipation, and indeed Keito expected some witty banter thrown back in response, but Hikaru just shook his head.

"I'm waiting for a call. It's important, I don't want to do it on some RV's bluetooth."

"A mission?" Yuto asked excitedly, the words falling from his lips fast, his eyes wide with hope. Hikaru shook his head.

"It's a personal call." Keito whistled teasingly, raising his eyebrows in surprise. Yuto in turn smirked knowingly.

"It's your boyfriend! How adorable! Does he need a virtual kiss from his honey buns?" Yuto teased. Hikaru turned a fantastic shade of red, punching Yuto hard in the shoulder in retaliation.

"At least I have a boyfriend." Hikaru muttered, not bothering to deny the accusations. "All you have is that plane they won't even let you take out of the hangar."

"Leave Rosalin out of this!" Yuto declared, and Keito had to hold back laughter at the melodramatics. His teammates stopped mucking around after a few more snarky comments, and Keito would have been worried about their friendship, if he hadn't been all too aware of the warm light in Hikaru's eyes, and the barely concealed smile playing on Yuto's lips.

"Is everything okay with Yabu?" Keito asked, once he could get a word in, and Hikaru smiled at the mention of his boyfriend, nodding.

"He's got some big assessment at work that he's nervous about is all, so he's going to call me before he goes in for the test." Keito nodded in understanding, just as Hikaru's phone started to ring. He smiled, immediately disregarding Yuto and Keito and put his phone to his ear, walking off as he said "Hey baby." They watched him go, Yuto giggling, the taller man turning to Keito and waggling his eyebrows as he said in a breathy voice

"Hey baby." Keito blushed, giggling at Yuto's antics. Hikaru had been dating Yabu for a little over six months, and although the team had never met him, they had heard plenty about him, Hikaru himself completely smitten. It was cute, Keito thought, and it was a great source of teasing. Not many of them had significant others, the only couple in their team Daiki―their sniper, one of the two assassins in the group―and Inoo. They had been together since they had been trainees, and as such any teasing about their relationship had long since run its course. Their line of work simply didn't make it very plausible to have any romantic attachment, Keito thought, as he climbed into the passenger seat of the RV Yuto had chosen, snapping his seat belt, putting in his earbuds, and giving Yuto a thumbs up.

The team's collective profession presented a good excuse not to follow through with anything they might feel, but that didn't make those feelings go away, Keito mused, as Yuto tore out of the parking bay and onto the track, letting out a whoop as his foot fell heavy on the gas pedal. Yuto always looked amazing behind the controls of a vehicle, his fingers curled around the steering wheel, eyes alight with happiness and energy. He was in his element, and it was beautiful to watch, watch as he pushed his limits and bent the vehicle to his will. That was the main reason Keito loved riding along when Yuto trained. He loved watching Yuto come to life in a way that nothing else could do for him. And the fact that he liked it when Keito came, well that was the icing on the cake. Keito settled in, swaying with the motion of the RV as Yuto barreled them around tight corners at breakneck speeds, his Finnish vocabulary recordings playing in his ears, and a smile bloomed on his lips.

Their session was cut short when barely thirty minutes into it there was an announcement over the PR system. It was loud, drowning out all other noise, projected all throughout the underground hallways.

"Team H.E.Y.S.A.Y.J.U.M.P. please report to conference room 218D, immediately. I repeat, Team H.E.Y.S.A.Y.J.U.M.P. please report to conference room 218D, immediately." Keito took out his earbuds at once, he and Yuto sharing confused glances, as Yuto took them back in the direction of the parking bay.

"What d'you think it is?" Yuto asked, as he parked the vehicle, the two of them exiting the bay and heading for the upper levels. Keito didn't know. The only time he'd been called to a meeting like this one had been when the team had been formed, years ago.

"They're not dissolving us, are they?" He asked, suddenly anxious. He liked his team, he didn't want them to be split up.

"No way." Yuto dismissed his fears at once, slinging a comforting arm over his shoulders. "Daiki wouldn't go anywhere without Inoo, it would be stupid to try and put Ryutaro on a new team, since Chinen is like the only person that can get him to do anything. And I heard that one time they tried to put Hikaru on a different team, just on a temporary basis, and he flat out refused. They tried to force him, but they couldn't, because they couldn't _find_ him. Rumor has it he lived in the air vents for nearly a month before they just gave up." Keito nodded. Yuto was right. They were a great team, the nine of them worked extremely well together. It wouldn't be logical to break them up now, before they'd ever been out into the field.

As they walked they ran into Daiki and Yamada, the two assassins falling into step next to them. Neither of them seemed to know what was going on either, explaining that they had been at the shooting range when they'd heard the announcement. As they made their way up they speculated about what they were being called in for, ideas getting more and more preposterous as they went. They were also joined by Ryutaro, their technician still talking on his headset to someone as he walked, his eyes down, glued to a tablet screen. They knew better than to bother him, instead Daiki just made sure to absorb him into the middle of their group, so as to keep him from running into any walls.

When they made it to their designated conference room they found Takaki, Inoo, and Chinen already there, along with two others. One of the strangers was an older, middle aged man, dressed in a suit and tie indicating that the he was not an active agent, probably one of the higher ups, or perhaps a government official, Keito mused. It was the other man that caught his attention. He was younger than his companion, probably around Keito's team's age range, lanky and thin and dressed in the black, form fitting suit of an active field agent, just as they all were. Keito sent Chinen a questioning glance, but the tiny scientist just shrugged. Everyone was silent, the team all lining themselves up along one wall, falling into parade rest naturally as they waited for the meeting to start.

The last one to join them was Hikaru, the older man walking in and immediately doing a broad sweep of the room, his eyes catching on the young stranger sitting with the suited men for a moment, jaw clenching, his brows furrowing together just slightly. He barely moved, but he didn't need to. Something was wrong, Keito knew, and his anxiety spiked as Hikaru shut the door.

"Welcome. My name is Higashiyama." The suited man said, standing to address the team. Keito immediately stood a little straighter; Higashiyama was a name he recognized, the man had been one of their agency's best back in the eighties. He was a legend; rumor had it that he'd retired. "Let's get right down to business. I am here to assign your team your first mission." Keito blinked in surprise. Usually when a new mission came in, there were whispers about it for weeks, rumors about what it was and who would get the assignment. He hadn't heard anything this time. "There's a new illegal drug that has recently been infiltrating the Japanese underworld. We need you to quickly discover the source, and take it out." He reached down, picking up a briefcase from where it had been resting beside his chair, and set it on the table, gesturing for someone to take it. Takaki was closest, so he was the one that stepped forward.

"The details of your mission are in that briefcase." The man explained. "For this mission we have created a base in the Kanto region, specifically designed for your team." He paused, eyes flicking to the young stranger still sitting on his left. "We have also decided to add one more name to the H.E.Y.S.A.Y.J.U.M.P. roster. This young man is one of our finest strategists, he will be joining you." The still unnamed agent smiled at them, looking rather self conscious. "You are to report to Runway Q, where your team jet will be waiting to take you to your new base." Higashiyama turned his attention to Yuto. "I assume that won't be a problem?" Yuto nodded confidently.

"No sir."

"Wonderful." He paused, taking them all in for a moment. "Good luck. As of this moment, you have been activated." He gave them all a small nod, and promptly left. He was barely out, the door still shutting behind him, when Hikaru whirled on their new teammate, voice sharp, as he said

"Kota, what the _hell?!"_


	2. Chapter 2

"I could ask you the same thing Hikaru." They were both on their feet, faces only centimeters apart, the new agent leaning in a little, lips pursed, and while he did seem serious, he didn't seem as *angry* as Hikaru did.

"You two know each other...from somewhere...?" Takaki asked, gesturing with his free hand between the two of them. Before either of them could respond Chinen fixed the new agent with a stare, and said

"You're Yabu Kota." The agent pulled away from Hikaru, turning his attention to Chinen, and he nodded, everything making a bit more sense. This man was Yabu. Hikaru's boyfriend Yabu, and judging on the still shocked and hurt expression on Hikaru's face, he'd had no idea that Yabu was a member of their organization. Keito could understand why Hikaru was upset. In the rare moments Hikaru had talked about Yabu to him, one of the main things he’d mentioned about his boyfriend was how he supposedly ran a small sports clothing store, with his father. Hikaru had talked about how much Yabu seemed to like his job, and how nice he thought that was. Finding out it was all a lie had to hurt.

Inoo let out a low whistle, eyes darting between Yabu and Hikaru, and Daiki took a step forward, offering Yabu a hand.

"Well, welcome to the team. I'm Arioka Daiki, half of our assassin duo. I specialize in long range weapons. I hope we can work well together." Yabu nodded gratefully, taking Daiki's hand. Yamada stepped up next, saying

"I'm Yamada Ryosuke, Daiki's partner—well, work partner—I specialize in shorter range weaponry, and blades." The amendment made Yabu raise his eyebrows, but he said nothing, shaking Yamada's hand in turn. Hikaru just stood there, silently watching as they all introduced themselves to Yabu. Once they'd completed their introductions, he just said

"We should get to the plane." He turned on his heel, wrenching the door open and whirling out. Keito cringed. He hadn't seen Hikaru this upset since the early days, when their team was still trying to figure out how to work together. Yabu watched him go, eyebrows scrunched up, lips tight, and after apparently making up his mind about something he grabbed for the door, calling

"Hikaru, wait!" After a few exchanged glances they all filed out after him, to find Yabu standing in the hallway alone, looking confused. "How?" He gestured down the long hall, bewildered by Hikaru's disappearance.

"The vents." Ryutaro offered, pointing to a ventilation grate in the ceiling a few meters ahead of them.

"Really?" Yabu was staring at the tiny hole, obviously wondering just how Hikaru could move through such a constrictive space. Inoo shrugged.

"That's our best guess. He doesn't really disclose that information."

"C'mon, let's get to the jet. I'll bet he's going to beat us there." Yamada offered, but no one really moved except Yuto, who broke out into a little skip of excitement, grabbing Keito by the arm.

"Let's go! I'll let you ride copilot!" It was Yuto's enthusiasm that truly got them all moving, winding through the hallways to their living quarters, each of them grabbing the nondescript black bags they kept at the foot of their beds, packed at all times with their personal effects, and up to the hangar on the roof, Keito keeping step with Yuto at the head of the pack, listening as Daiki started asking Yabu questions about himself, engrossing the taller man in light conversation. Daiki had a talent for bringing people together, and making them feel like they belonged; they wouldn't have become the close knit group they were today without his patient, possibly calculated bonding. Despite the hiccup, Keito was sure Daiki would find a way to fix Hikaru and Yabu's relationship, if they didn't figure it out on their own.

Their jet was fueled and waiting, gleaming in the overhead lights, the cargo ramp down, Hikaru standing there, his own bag slung over his shoulder, a smile on his face.

"I win!" He declared, when they got within earshot, and Yuto groaned playfully, jogging up to meet him. Hikaru seemed to be fine now, joking with Inoo and Takaki as everyone loaded up onto the jet, and Keito caught sight of their newest member reaching out to put a hand on Hikaru's shoulder as Yuto led him up to the cockpit. They were going to work it out, he assured himself, stashing his bag into one of the storage compartments before taking the copilot's seat. He'd learned how to fly during his time training to become an active agent, they all had, but most of them hadn't used that knowledge again. As it was, Yuto had taken him out on a couple of flights, and Keito was probably one of the most experienced members of their team when it came to flight controls. He settled into his seat, Yuto positively beaming at him as he passed Keito his headset.

"Let's get Rosalin in the air!" Yuto declared, lifting the cargo ramp and firing up the engines. He couldn't stop smiling, his whole body practically quivering with excitement as he announced over the intercom that they were departing, the jet roaring to life as he took them out and into the sky. Their destination had been preprogrammed into the jet's systems, and as they weren't in any immediate rush Yuto let the computer do much of the work, chattering to Keito excitedly about the many theories he had as to what this mission—*their first real mission*—was. Keito half expected a debrief of the contents of the briefcase to take place during the flight, but perhaps due to the still very raw revelation about Hikaru's boyfriend, there wasn't one.

The flight to their new base didn't take long, Yuto's inherent need to fly *fast* seeming to overtake any want he had to do tricks, and it wasn't long before Keito spotted Tokyo on the horizon, and he felt a tingle of excitement fizzle in his stomach at the sight. He wasn't the only one feeling that way, Yuto glancing over at him from his place in the pilot's chair, his whole face alight with anticipation, body radiating so much energy that it was a wonder he could keep still enough to fly. Seeing that pulled a smile onto Keito's face, and he almost forgot about his copilot's duties, too wrapped up in watching Yuto.

It wasn't until Yuto declared that they were starting their landing sequence that Keito turned his attention away from the man sitting next to him, and he immediately felt a spike of panic jolt through him. They were flying low, coming in over what looked like a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, and it was nothing but rooftops as far as the eye could see. Where were they supposed to be landing?! His panic didn't seem to bother Yuto in the slightest, the lanky man just telling Keito calmly to get ready. They circled around one block a few times, before Yuto went to land on the street. Keito was bewildered by this, sure that the plane wouldn't fit, but then the wings folded in, tight against the plane's body, and he saw the pavement open up underneath them, the road swallowing them up and burying them inside of it.

The cargo ramp lowered, and they found themselves in a large underground hangar, the space full of other types of vehicles to be used at their disposal. It was so large and open that their voices echoed, exclamations of awe bouncing off of the walls. They stood together in a group for a moment, and Hikaru declared

"Take an hour to look around and unpack. Let's meet up in the conference room; I'll order pizza and we can have a mission briefing. There's got to be a conference room somewhere in this place." His words were met with nods, the ten of them scattering, bags clutched in hands and slung over shoulders as they dispersed and disappeared through the various doors placed in what looked to be an almost haphazard manner around the edges of the hangar. Keito walked over to a door on his right, wrenching it open and finding himself at the top of a set of stairs, to his great surprise. He descended the staircase, and discovered that he was in a twisting hallway, the rooms leading off of it placed in a manner that seemed to be intentionally random, with no regard as to how a facility would be logically structured.

It was built like a labyrinth, the walls a nondescript gray, the floors a checkered black and white tile, all of the doors unmarked, so that he had to open them and peer into each room behind them to gather just what the room was. It was almost frustrating, how turned around he was feeling, and the more of the place he explored, the more realized that it was built to be intentionally confusing. It would take a while for him to be able to find his way around without getting lost, and if they were ever attacked here, they would have a major advantage over their enemies with a floor plan as bewildering as this one.

It took a while, but eventually he found a room with his active agent number—a long string of digits headquarters used to identify each of their operatives—on a little plaque above the bed. It was pretty impersonal, but all of the essentials were there, and it didn't take long before he was all unpacked, just about to go looking for the supposed conference room when Yamada peered his head through the open doorway, sharp eyes meeting Keito's own, his lips curling up on one side in a half smile as he said in an almost playful fashion

"Hello neighbor." Keito smiled, standing and going over to his friend. He really liked Yamada, the smaller man's sharp aim and soft heart both making him stand out in their line of work. Yamada was sweet, and cruel, and Keito often found himself making convoluted and perhaps not entirely accurate rose metaphors if he contemplated the other man for too long. Yamada was one of his favorite people, and—he was proud to say—one of his closest friends.

"Where's your room?" He asked, falling into step next to Yamada, the other man leading him down the hall in the opposite way he'd come.

"Right here." Yamada gestured to another blank door as they passed. "And Ryu and Yuto are back that way." He pointed down another hall, but he didn't make to go in that direction, keeping to the hall they'd started down. Keito almost stopped, slowing and peering down the hall Yamada had pointed to, looking to see if he could catch a glimpse of Yuto, to know which room was the taller man's. He didn't get any indication however, and when he returned his attention to Yamada he caught his companion giving him a knowing look. "You're really going to have to do something about it all one of these days." Yamada said, pursing his lips as Keito blushed a bright pink. "You can't keep going like this. Does it not drive you crazy to be so close to him all the time, and do nothing?" Keito just shrugged, and Yamada sighed. "I don't know, I mean I don't have anyone, but I don't think I could just stand around and do nothing."

Keito didn't really have a response to that, and they fell into silence for a few moments, Yamada leading him up a staircase and through the winding halls. Keito wondered how Yamada could proceed so confidently, how he could find his way through this place already, but he didn't ask, focusing instead on trying to remember the route, so he could hopefully get back to his room without much trouble. The silence was broken when Yamada's stomach growled, the noise loud in the empty hallway, and Keito couldn't help but smile, Yamada's face falling into a look of overly dramatic worry, and he rubbed at his tummy, saying

"Do you think the pizza will be here soon? I mean, I usually don't crave pizza, but Dai-chan and I were on a roll at the range today and we totally skipped lunch." Keito patted Yamada consolingly on the back, and the talk devolved into light chatter until Yamada stopped at a door, grabbing the handle and turning. "We're here." He declared, pushing the door open to reveal that indeed they were standing in the entrance of a conference room, pizza boxes stacked on one corner of the table, the briefcase with their mission details to the right of them, and next to them Hikaru and their new member, Yabu, standing very close together, their eyes locked, gazes fierce.

It looked as though they were either going to try to kill each other or start ripping each others clothes off any second, and Keito—not wanting to be around in the event of either of those options—paused, contemplating giving them a few more minutes of alone time. It didn't matter however, Yamada barging right in, with an exclamation of

"Food! Yes!" The little assassin's words seemed to break the two older men out of their little staring competition and they jumped apart, a slight blush tinting Yabu's cheeks, Hikaru going so far as to walk all the way to the other side of the room, leaning against the wall and looking away. As quietly as possible Keito followed behind Yamada, snagging a few slices of pizza and sitting in one of the chairs that surrounded the long metal table. The others started filing in moments later, coming in twos and threes, chatting enthusiastically as they got themselves pizza and took their seats. Once everyone was there Hikaru opened up the briefcase Higashiyama had given them, going through it and passing around manila folders, one for each of them. Keito flicked it open with greasy fingers, trying not to touch anything that looked too important as Hikaru began talking.

“I went over everything on the way here, and it seems pretty straightforward.” Hikaru told them, flitting through his own manila folder. “This mystery drug was brought to our attention by some of our underground informants. It’s only been found on members of the Tokyo branch of the Dojin-kai yakuza group, and they’ve been extremely reluctant to let any of it go, which is odd considering their history with drug trafficking. We don’t have a chemical readout, so really everything is supposition at this point, but in the past few months the yakuza involved have become alarmingly more violent, crime in their territory increasing exponentially. It’s become an issue of public safety, as well as a drug problem, and so for the sake of the civilians this needs to be handled with a sense of urgency.

“For now we’re operating under the assumption that the Dojin-kai are distributors, so we just need to find the source, and cut it off. There’s profiles of all of their big names in your folders. We’re looking for pink capsules; our sources have told us that the drug is a powder that’s been compressed into pills. We’ll talk strategy and infiltration in the morning. For tonight, just read the information I gave you. We have a long day ahead of us in the morning. No more easy training sessions.”

It was only after he’d finished talking that Hikaru grabbed a slice of pizza of his own, and it was then that they understood that the official part of the debrief was over, everyone flipping through their folders and talking quietly with their neighbors, thinking out loud about how to complete their first mission in record time and prove to headquarters just how indispensable they were. Keito stayed silent for the most part, managing to eat nearly a whole pizza by himself as he looked over the files Hikaru had given him. This mission did seem relatively straightforward, the goal simple. Now they just had to get the job done. He was feeling surprisingly confident about their mission as he went to bed that night. He had a good team, a team of people that were much smarter and higher skilled than himself, and if anyone could complete this mission, it was them.


	3. Chapter 3

Any confidence Keito had been feeling was trashed when he woke the following morning to Hikaru grabbing him and pulling him physically from his bed, stuffing a protein bar in his hand and telling him that they had to go _now. _He was already in full uniform, and as Keito rushed to change into his own he saw Ryutaro and Takaki run past in opposite directions through his open doorway, the two of them already in full uniform, com sets and tablets in their hands, calling to each other as they passed, voices urgent, body language betraying stress. What had happened?

“What—”

“We got an alert. There’s been a bomb threat reported in a construction company’s main office downtown. Yuto’s got a van prepped and waiting for us.” Hikaru informed him, Keito nodding and slipping his arms into his sleeves as fast as he could.

“Wait...a construction company—”

“Yeah, the Dojin-kai.”

“Someone’s bombing the yakuza?!” Hikaru took a bite of his own protein bar, treating Keito to one of his best ‘that was a stupid question’ looks, before replying

“Apparently.” Keito blushed, embarrassed a bit as he zipped up his uniform, Hikaru turning and heading for the door, Keito following after him as Hikaru continued “Chinen and Ryu are going to stay here and provide backup over the coms. The police should have the building cleared by the time we get there. Ryutaro’s going to try to get a visual as soon as possible.” Keito nodded, ripping into the bar Hikaru had given him as they jogged down the hall. Honestly a simple bomb threat on low profile targets wasn’t usually something they were called in for, but this could be the perfect chance to snoop around the Dojin-kai’s Tokyo branch’s main office undisturbed. With any luck the threat would be just that—a threat, and nothing more—and they could just comb the place for any information pertaining to their mission stress free.

“Hey, how are things with Yabu?” Keito asked, as he finished off his protein bar and got to work fitting himself with his com set. His question seemed to take Hikaru by surprise, the older agent’s head whipping around to look at him, his jaw clenching. Keito immediately wished he had just held his tongue, but then Hikaru’s expression softened a bit, and he opened his mouth to respond, when Inoo ran up, calling out

“Hikaru! Dai-chan is...well...I had a question about weapon restrictions for the mission.”

“I already told him he couldn’t bring the bazooka.” Hikaru’s response was immediate, and Inoo treated Hikaru to an almost exasperated look before replying

“This has to do with the grenade launcher. He was packing it up, so I thought I should maybe get you to tell him not to bring it.” Hikaru snorted, shaking his head and picking up the pace, Keito following behind them, listening as the older men commiserated about how a bazooka and a grenade launcher were practically the same thing, and what on earth would they need a grenade launcher for a bomb threat for? They got to the hangar just as Daiki was loading a nondescript black cargo bag into a van, Hikaru immediately yelling for him to stop as they approached.

Keito went around to the side of the van, pulling open one of the doors and climbing in, finding Yamada and Takaki already inside. Yamada was leaning back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes half closed, while Takaki was chewing on his own protein bar looking surprisingly awake. Keito took the first empty seat he saw, greeting everyone, Yuto peeking out from the driver’s seat, his eyes wide with excitement, a smile on his lips as he chirped back his own greeting, the pep making Keito smile. It was only a minute later that they were all piled in, everyone testing their coms before Yuto took the van peeling out of the hangar and onto the street, anxiety and excitement beginning to pool in Keito’s stomach.

Yuto sped through the streets, Hikaru having to tell him on multiple occasions that this was _not_ the training course, and that there were traffic laws they had to follow. As they drove Yabu pulled out a tablet, addressing them all as building blueprints appeared on the screen.

“This is the main office building. The call came from the third floor, so we’re going to assume the bomb is somewhere in one of these—” He drew circles with his finger, around three rooms, the rooms lighting up green on the screen. “—offices. The police are supposed to be evacuating the building and keeping the public at bay. With any luck they’ll be doing their jobs perfectly, and we can just go in and take care of business, but if there are any issues we’re going to need to do some crowd control of our own.”

“Takaki, Inoo, and Daiki, that’ll be you.” Hikaru cut in, glancing back from his spot in the passenger seat.

“It’s looking like the police are definitely going to need our help.” Ryutaro’s voice came in crystal clear through the coms, and the screen on Yabu’s tablet changed to what seemed to be CCTV footage of the building they were headed to, pulled from a camera stationed across the street. It was hard to make out anything specific due to the poor quality of the video, but there was definitely too much movement for things to be peaceful. “This is a live feed.” Ryutaro explained. “I hijacked the feed from the bar across the street. There are a few other cameras in the general vicinity of the Dojin-kai’s building, but this one has the best view. Here, let me just—”

The screen zoomed in on the mass, and it became clear that there was a struggle happening between a few of the yakuza members and the police officers. They all observed the footage for a moment, before Hikaru said

“Okay. New plan. Inoo, Takaki, you two try to talk everyone down, diffuse the tension. We need everyone to like us enough to not get in our way. Daiki, Keito, you two can back them up if things get physical. Yamada, Kota, and I will go inside to find and defuse the bomb and look for any clues as to this mystery drug. As soon as the situation outside calms the rest of you need to get inside and help us out. Ryutaro, we’re not supposed to exist so I’m going to need all of the cameras in the area to be rendered ineffective, think you can do that?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?”

“A simple ‘yes’ would suffice.” The snarky rhetoric and Hikaru’s dry tone would have made Keito laugh, if he wasn’t feeling slightly sick, worry beginning to eat away at him.

“What should I do?” Yuto asked, glancing over at Hikaru, looking eager. “Go with you and Yama-chan?”

“Stay in the van.” Hikaru ordered, Yuto’s face immediately falling into a pout. “If things go south and the bomb explodes we’re going to need a quick getaway. You’ll be the most useful here.” Yuto nodded, looking slightly put out that he was going to be missing out on the action, but it was rather relieving for Keito to know that if worst came to worst Yuto would be waiting in the wings to scoop them all out of harm’s way.

“We’re here.” Yuto declared only a few moments later, as the van rounded a corner.

“Does anyone have any questions?” Hikaru asked, the van falling completely silent. “Ryu, are the cameras out of commission?”

“We’re all set on this end.” Ryutaro declared. Hikaru pulled his face mask up over his mouth, Keito and the rest following suit, before Yamada declared

“Let’s go.”

“Good luck!” Chinen’s voice called over the coms, and the doors to the van were thrown open as Yuto rolled the vehicle to a stop, the seven of them piling out. Keito was the last one out the van doors, and when he turned to shut them Yuto flashed him a thumbs up, the action reassuring him, and as Keito turned around to follow the rest of their team he could feel as adrenaline began to flood his system. He followed Takaki and Inoo to where the police seemed to be trying to keep a mass of men from entering the building.

The men were shouting, words about their rights and curses flying, and as Keito got closer he came to realize that it really only seemed to be a smaller group of problem individuals, most of the men just loitering around, their eyes up, fixed on the surface of the building, visibly anxious. Inoo was the first one to reach the mob, immediately turning to one of the police officers, presumably trying to get a proper understanding of the situation. Keito had just barely gotten within earshot of his companions when one of the yakuza men grabbed Inoo by the shoulder, and all four of them moved at once, Keito surging forward to help his companion.

Daiki was the fastest however, and he had the man on the ground, immobilized before Keito could do anything, saying seriously to the man

“Please don’t.” After a moment of struggling the man went limp, giving up, and Daiki released his grip on the guy, helping him to his feet. It was then that Takaki started talking, declaring in his most assuring tone that they were just responding to the bomb threat, and that everything would be taken care of soon. His words didn’t have a calming effect however, as it seemed that many of the civilians weren’t aware that there had _been_ a bomb threat, their voices raising and becoming more tense. Inoo and Takaki immediately started trying to talk down any danger they were facing, and Daiki pushed himself close to Inoo’s side, silently providing comfort and protection.

A few of the yakuza men pushed back, trying to get close, or to perhaps simply intimidate Keito and his companions, but they were easily outmaneuvered, and with the four of them there it seemed that the situation was under control. The others meanwhile, it seemed had split up to search the building, and they were all communicating through the com system, their voices both reassuring and distracting in Keito’s ear. Things seemed to be going well all things considered, and Keito was beginning to hope that maybe there really wouldn’t be a bomb when through his earpiece Yabu said,

“I’ve found it.” His voice was high and the tension in it was enough to set Keito on edge.

“Where are you?” Hikaru’s voice was urgent, and Keito missed Yabu’s response when one of the policemen turned to Takaki, leaning into Keito’s space to ask a question. When he tuned back in to what Hikaru was saying all he caught was “—on my way. Don’t move.”

“What type of bomb is it?” Chinen’s voice chirped over the radio waves, sounding amazingly calm and perhaps a bit too cheerful for the situation, and after a moment of radio silence Yabu conceded

“I can’t tell. It’s a package, a small one, let me see if I can get a better look, give me one second.”

“Be careful.” Takaki broke in, his words making the people around them give him confused looks, and he and Keito shared a look, the both of them realizing his mistake. Keito could feel his heart pounding in his chest, concern for his teammates almost crippling, and he tried hard to focus on his task, but the task of keeping the public under control suddenly felt utterly unimportant. “The package has been opened just barely. I can’t get a good look at it, but the explosive is hanging suspended in the center of the box, wires keeping it in place. It looks like it has over thirty trigger wires on it.”

“Shit.” Ryutaro muttered, just as Chinen said

“Oh, that’s good then.”

“Good?! Chinen—” Ryutaro’s indignance was overridden by Yabu saying

“You think we can disarm it?”

“Sure. It sounds like it works like a landmine. You know, the trip wire is pulled taught and then it goes boom?”

“Yeah.” Yabu didn’t sound particularly reassured by Chinen’s explanation.

“But instead of having just one trip wire this bomb has a lot.” Chinen continued. “As long as none of those wires are pulled taught the bomb shouldn’t go off. So—”

“Do you think you can handle this?” Takaki asked one of the police officers, pulling Keito out of the still, slightly horrified trance he’d found himself in as he’d listened to Chinen and Yabu communicating over the coms, and to his relief the policeman nodded, Takaki nodding back before telling Daiki and Inoo “They said they’ve got it. Let's go.” The response was immediate, the four of them turning and bolting for the building, as Yabu said, his voice shaky in Keito’s ear

“So, just cut the wires that are suspending the device inside of the box, without letting any of them get taught, right?”

“Yup!” Chinen sounded positively carefree, and it was jarring and out of place in the middle of such tension.

“Okay.”

“Where are you guys? We’re coming up.” Daiki asked as they entered the building, the four of them all making a beeline for the elevator as Yamada’s voice replied

“Fifth floor, northernmost office.”

“You four need to look for anything pertaining to our mystery drug. There’s nothing you can do up here.” It was an order, and while Keito understood that Hikaru was making the right call—there was no way seven people were needed to defuse a bomb, and in all honestly they could even get in the way— it was hard to fight the instinct to be there just in case. In case of _what_ he didn’t know, but that didn’t make it any easier to get off the elevator on the third floor instead of the fifth, or to try and pull his thoughts away from his teammates two floors up and focus on finding any information related to the mystery drug.

They all spread out, each of them taking a floor to look, and Keito kept as quiet as he could, listening intently for the voices of his teammates over his earpiece as he began scouring the offices for anything that looked like it could help their mission. He searched through drawers in desks and busted open cabinets, to no avail. Time seemed to slow, dragging the longer he went in radio silence, and on multiple occasions he considered checking in and asking for a status report, but every time he talked himself out of it. If something bad had happened they would have given some sort of indication. He had to trust that everything was going to be okay.

He was in the process of trying to hack into one of the computers when—after what felt like hours—Yamada’s voice came over the coms, heavy and happy

“Fuck that was fantastic.”

“You got it?”

“Is everyone okay?”

“The bomb’s been taken care of?” Everyone’s questions were said overtop of each other, words hasty and filled with concern, and Keito froze in front of the computer he was at, one hand coming up to press his earpiece into his ear in an automatic, and fruitless attempt to make the sound clearer.

“The bomb has been mostly incapacitated. We’re free to search the premises without fear of explosion at least.” Hikaru’s voice filtered confidently in through Keito’s com, and Keito felt a weight lift off of his chest, and he sank into the chair he was sitting in, a smile blooming on his lips, his body going limp for a moment as he processed the good news. It was only a few moments later however, that Ryutaro’s voice declared

“Guys, you should probably get a move on. The crowd outside is starting to get antsy.”

“Alright. Everyone take anything that looks remotely useful, and meet in the first floor lobby in four minutes. Yuto, are you ready for us?”

“Just say the word, and I’ll be there. I’ve been circling.”

“Perfect. Be outside in four minutes.”

“Done.” Yuto declared, the confidence in his voice making Keito smile, and Keito sat back up, feeling rejuvenated, his attention finally fully on the task at hand. It only took a few more moments to complete the hack—he wasn’t the most skilled in that area of expertise, but the computers weren’t very well protected—and he started downloading the full data from the main server onto a standard issue field flash drive; letting the computer work for him while he crossed the hall and started going through the personal effects left by the yakuza members in what looked to be a scramble to exit the building.

There wasn’t much, and he really didn’t think he’d found anything of importance when he heard Yuto call out over the coms

“Thirty seconds.” He was out of time, and he snatched the flash drive and moved to meet his teammates in the lobby, hoping that something would come out of the data he’d snagged. When he got there Takaki, Yamada, Inoo, and Daiki were all there, Inoo and Takaki over by the building’s front doors, talking very low and fast with a police officer, while Yamada had a box in his arms that looked like it had the contents of a filing cabinet in it, the files all stacked haphazardly inside, spilling out a bit over the top. Daiki’s hands were free, and he was watching Inoo and Takaki’s conversation with fierce focus.

It was only a moment after Keito arrived that Yabu and Hikaru stepped out of the elevator, Yabu holding what looked to be a digital video recorder , while Hikaru had evidence sample bags containing what appeared to be pieces of the bomb in his hands. Hikaru’s eyes immediately swept the room, doing a head count, and once he was certain they all were accounted for he nodded toward the door, the lot of them moving toward it at once; Takaki and Inoo finishing up their conversation with the police officer and following the group a few paces behind.

As they moved they picked up the pace to a light jog, and as they ran Yuto brought the van into view, pulling to a stop in front of them just as they reached the curb. Behind them Keito heard the shouts of the yakuza men, exclamations of shock and belligerence when they caught sight of the items in the team's arms. But the yells were barely registered, the team all piling into the van, Yuto peeling away as soon as the door had been slammed shut, a little whoop falling from his lips as he took them barreling down the streets and back to base.


	4. Chapter 4

The team don’t really talk until they get back to base, everyone coming down from their adrenaline rushes and processing everything that had happened quietly, internally. Keito felt drained from the morning’s events, and he leaned back in his seat, watching as across the aisle from him Inoo slipped his hand into Daiki’s, the two leaning into each other, their shoulders pressed up against one another in silence. Next to Keito Yamada fell asleep sitting up, the box he’d been carrying still in his arms, his head lolling with each turn Yuto took the van through. As they got close Hikaru broke the silence.

“Everyone drop off all of the evidence you found at Chinen’s lab. He and Ryutaro are going to start sifting through everything. You have all got until three o’clock this afternoon to do whatever you want. Nap, shower, board games, I don’t care. After that we’ll meet for lunch and a debrief, and if Chinen and Ryu have found anything they’ll tell us then. After that we need to help them go through all of this.” Hikaru gestured to the wide array of objects in everyone's arms, and there were nods of understanding and subdued ‘Yes sir’s as Yuto parked the van.

They all unload, their finds still in their arms, and Keito felt rather silly holding his little flash drive while some of them had boxes, but he fell into step next to Takaki, following the trail of teammates through the still confusing building to a lab that looked remarkably like Chinen’s lab back at headquarters, depositing the little drive on a long glass table along with everything else the others had found, before watching the rest of them disperse.

He felt drained already, the adrenaline rush having left him hungry and sweaty and weary, and he found himself trudging listlessly through the halls for either his bed, a kitchen, or a washroom, and when he stumbled across a communal showering area he wandered right in. He stripped down in a haze, his stomach growling at him as he turned the water on, scalding hot and hard hitting, and it was cathartic, melting away the stress of the morning and allowing him to properly process everything that had happened, and realize that it was all a success. Even if they didn't find any leads about their mystery drug, it was still a win. They had kept a bomb from going off. They had saved people. And so even if the rest of it turned out to be a complete wash, they had still managed to accomplish something today.

That thought put a smile on his face, and Keito got out of the shower feeling much better than he had when he went in; motivated and ready to get back to work—right after a meal. He meandered through the halls of the building for another twenty minutes before he managed to find a kitchen area, Yamada, Yuto, and Takaki all already there, sitting around a table with sandwiches, talking. Takaki seemed to be telling the other two about the experience of trying to subdue the yakuza crowd, and Keito listened as the older man talked, smiling to himself whenever Takaki would exaggerate the details.

He made himself a couple of sandwiches, joining his teammates at the table just as Takaki was finishing his tale. Yuto seemed to have been very engrossed in what Takaki had been saying, and when the story ended he slouched back in his seat, looking almost disappointed, before he shot back up, turning and pointing to Yamada and declaring

"You saw Yabu defuse the bomb!" His enthusiasm made Keito smile, and Yamada blinked in surprise at Yuto for a moment, chewing a bite of his sandwich, before he nodded, swallowing and saying

"I did. It wasn't just him though. Hikaru helped." Yuto leaned forward, his meal forgotten, and he folded his elbows on the table, propping his head up and nodding encouragingly for Yamada to continue his story. Yamada snorted softly and shook his head, but it was obvious that he was going to do as Yuto wanted and explain what had happened on the fourth floor of the office building that morning.

"Okay, so Yabu found it on what looked like a boss' desk. It was separate from the others, and it was by the window. I wasn't there when he found it; we'd all spread out to search the building, and by the time I got there he and Hikaru were already huddled around it. But it was a tiny little box, it honestly would have only blown up the person that triggered it, it couldn't have done any major damage. No mass murder or anything anyway. But it was rigged in such a way that if you opened the box properly the bomb would explode. Honestly I was useless. The way Hikaru and Yabu worked together you'd think they'd been doing it their whole lives. Hika got some forensic tweezers from his belt and held the explosive packing still while Yabu cut the wires suspending it inside the box. It was—there was something special happening between the two of them. I don't know how to explain it. It was stunning to watch." Yamada seemed to have forgotten about his sandwich now too, fully engrossed in the story he was telling.

"And then they had it. It didn't take them very long at all before Hikaru could just lift the explosive material out of the box and put it in an evidence bag. It was amazing. They never panicked, or bickered or anything, they just _did it,_ and when it was all over they were looking at each other like...like they were in awe. Like they'd never seen anything as amazing as each other, and it was really something. I've never seen a look like that on Hikaru's face before. He's always so good at keeping himself in check. Yabu really brings something out in him, I think." Yamada seemed embarrassed just recounting the private moment between their teammates, and he turned away, shoving a large bite of sandwich into his mouth. It took him a few moments to compose himself, and when he continued there was a note of finality in his tone.

"After that we just got back to work, swept the area for anything useful, and hauled ass back to the van with everyone else." Yuto leaned back in his seat, groaning a bit.

"I can't believe I missed the whole adventure." He whined, blowing his bangs out of his eyes before sitting back up and picking his sandwich up, examining it half-heartedly.

"You didn't though." Keito assured him around a bite of sandwich, leaning in and knocking their shoulders together in an attempt to be comforting. "You're the getaway guy. If we didn't have you we could have been overrun by the cops or the yakuza and we never would have made it out. You saved us." He leaned in, swallowing and whispering so the others couldn't hear "I would have rather been in the van with you." It wasn't a lie. He was rather envious of Yuto's position in their group. He was a key element to their success, and he had a place that he belonged, literally and figuratively. Yuto gave Keito a look, a small smile pulling on the corners of his lips, before he nodded.

"Maybe you're right." He conceded, and Keito beamed, leaning back into his own chair and picking up his next sandwich. From there conversation turned to more casual things, like if Daiki and Inoo were sharing a room and scenarios in which they’d need to use the ridiculous animal costumes Chinen was making for them. It was nice, and relaxing, and they sat and talked long after their plates were empty.

Eventually however, Yamada stood up and declared he was going to take a nap. That was everyone’s cue that the conversation was over, and Takaki left to go work on unpacking his disguise props, leaving Keito and Yuto there alone. They cleaned up together, before heading back to Yuto’s room, Yuto wanting to change into a different bodysuit, telling Keito in a slightly embarrassed tone that he’d accidentally fallen asleep in one he was wearing the night before, and when they were woken for the bomb threat he hadn’t had time to change.

Yuto’s room was almost identical to Keito’s, the only differences the string of numbers

engraved above the bed and a small polaroid photograph taped on the wall next to it. Keito crossed the room to look at the picture while Yuto went to the little closet, Keito hearing him unzip his uniform. It was a picture of Yuto’s little brother, Keito recognized the kid immediately, despite having never met him. Yuto always had one. The image changed over the years as the boy had grown up, but it was always there.

“This is new, when did you go back?” Keito asked, pointedly keeping his back turned as Yuto changed. There was a pause in the sounds of his companion shuffling out of his clothes, and Yuto’s voice was enthusiastic when he said

“Last month! It was my mom’s birthday. I took him out driving, he’s not bad.”

“How old is he now? He’s not old enough to drive, right?”

“Raiya’s seventeen now, that’s almost old enough. By the time I was his age I could drive every wheeled vehicle known to man. And most water ones.” Keito found himself smiling, and he looked back up at the photograph. Yuto had been recruited very young, not even ten years old, but he still kept in contact with his family. He was one of the few who did, and he made it a point to visit them on important dates like birthdays and holidays. It was very sweet, Keito thought, and Yuto’s hard work seemed to be paying off. He had a very close relationship with his parents, and a fierce love for his younger brother.

Keito hadn’t seen any of his family in years; not since the recruitment when he was fourteen, and honestly he didn’t think about them much any longer. He thought about his old dog sometimes, but Pablo was probably dead by now, already having been elderly when Keito had left.

“He’s good? Have you ever thought about asking him to take the test? It must be hard keeping your job a secret.”

“No.” Yuto sighed, walking over and slinging an arm around Keito’s body from behind, leaning up against him and resting his head on Keito’s shoulder, looking over at the photo on the wall. “He’s too old. Next to no one gets in once they hit seventeen. Besides, he’s going to live a long, happy life away from mystery drugs and bomb threats.”

“Sounds boring.” Keito teased, and Yuto chuckled in his ear, giving Keito a squeeze before pulling away.

“Yeah. I don’t think I could stand it.”

“Well you’re an adrenaline junkie.” Keito’s jibe didn’t go unnoticed, and Yuto had a light in his eye, a smile curling his pink lips up, tugging at the little scar on the left side in a way that Keito had always found cute.

“Look who’s talking!” Keito giggled, knowing Yuto was right. “You wanna practice sparring for a bit, adrenaline junkie?” Yuto asked. Keito nodded, pretending to be nonchalant to the amusement of both of them as he said

“Sure. I’ve got nothing on for a few hours.”

They found a training room after nearly an hour of searching, tucked away between the hangar, and what appeared to be a room of nothing but blades, and they trained for the next couple of hours, talking and laughing as they threw punches and wrestled each other to the ground. It was fun, the time whirring by in Yuto’s strong arms and boisterous laugh, and it felt too soon when Keito looked up and realized that they had to be in the conference room for the debrief in ten minutes. It was then that the sparring turned into scrambling for the door, and they just barely made it on time, the rest of the team already there when they came in.


	5. Chapter 5

Keito and Yuto quickly took the last two seats at the end of the conference table, Daiki sliding convenience store bento lunches down the table for each of them as Hikaru began the debrief. It was pretty simple, just an open discussion about how everyone felt about everything that had happened on the mission, and if there were any ideas about improvements they could make to the way the situation had been handled. Everyone seemed to be feeling pretty good about the whole thing. They’d done many simulations and had worked for years training and figuring out how to work together, and it had definitely paid off. Nothing new was really covered until Hikaru’s last question was asked, and everyone turned their attention to Chinen and Ryutaro.

“We’ve been looking over everything you all brought back. There’s a lot, so we haven’t gotten through everything yet, but we do have some new information.” Chinen started, setting his chopsticks down and leaning in. Keito automatically leaned forward as well, immensely interested in what Chinen had to say. It wasn’t Chinen however, that spoke next, Ryutaro swallowing a bite and declaring

“The Dojin-kai aren’t distributing the drug. Probably.”

“What? What do you mean _‘probably’?”_ Yabu asked, looking serious and almost frustrated.

“I mean I’ve been through a lot of the digital files you all got, and nothing indicates that they’re distributing it, or making any money through new channels. They haven’t had a major change or a spike in their incomes since that big war they were in with the Kyushu-Seido-kai ended, and that was a few years ago. A hot new drug on the market should be a great source of income for them, but it’s simply not there. If anything, they’re losing money.” He paused. “Granted, we haven’t even started on the physical files you all got, or the video footage or any of that.”

“Wait, I thought Chinen was going to do those?” Hikaru chimed in, looking confused. “What happened?”

“I got a sample.” Daiki declared, a grin on his face, his chest puffed out a bit as he sat up just a little straighter.

“A sample...of the drug? You brought back some of our mystery drug?!” Takaki’s voice rang with surprise. Daiki nodded, his smile growing bigger, and there were whoops and cheers all around the room, those closest to the short assassin patting him on the back.

“I’ve been analyzing the pills, getting a chemical readout.” Chinen informed them, looking pleased with himself. “We’re not dealing with a drug in the LSD or PCP sense. It isn’t hallucinogenic or dissociative. You don’t shouldn’t lose your sense of self or go on a ‘trip’ when using these pills. The pills Daiki brought back actually would probably be categorized as an anabolic steroid. On steroids. It’s extremely potent, and it shares some chemical makeup with heroin, which makes me inclined to believe that it is extraordinarily addictive. This drug will bulk the user up at an exponential rate, but like any other anabolic steroid it’s use could—and probably would—result in extreme mood swings, paranoia, delusions, and jealousy. Not to mention high blood pressure, increased risk of a heart attack, and liver disease. And that’s just the symptoms we know of without this highly addictive compound. Who knows what other side effects these people are feeling.” He pursed his lips.

“This is a highly volatile compound, unlike anything I’ve ever seen or read about. Heroin isn’t supposed to make you more active. It’s supposed to knock you off your feet. This combination is a bad one; the two main components clash in your body. It’s like mixing alcohol and caffeine. It’s extremely dangerous and stupid. We—” Chinen gestured between himself and Ryu “—are currently working under the assumption that the Dojin-kai aren’t the distributors and are in fact the clients. This isn’t necessarily good news. Whoever the supplier is isn’t looking to have long term buyers in these guys, because no one could possibly live long if they’re ingesting this mess into their bodies on a regular basis.”

There was a long pause, everyone taking that information in, before Inoo said

“Well...that sucks.”

“What about the bomb?” Takaki asked, lips pursing in concern.

“What about it?” Chinen asked. “It wasn’t anything remarkable. If anything it was uninspired. Dull. I checked over what Hikaru brought back before I destroyed it, but there really isn’t much to say.” His casual tone made a few of the others glare at him across the table, but Keito felt that Chinen had missed the point. He shared a glance with Yuto, who promptly asked

“Do we know who sent it? Does it tie in to our mission at all, or is it unrelated?” He took the words from Keito’s mouth, Keito just giving him a small smile.

“I just started looking into that.” Ryutaro declared, looking almost frustrated. “I need more time. The sender name on the box matches a name in their accounting files, but I haven’t gotten a chance to look into it any farther than that.”

“In short, we don’t know.” Chinen offered.

“The bomb was a warning. A threat. It wasn’t meant to do any serious damage. It wasn’t supposed to massacre the Dojin-kai. It was supposed to scare them.” Yamada said.

“D’you think it was sent by the supplier?” Daiki asked.

“That would make a lot of sense, if the Dojin-kai were behind on payments or had acted out of terms of whatever agreement the two had.” Yabu sounded thoughtful as he spoke, the words coming slow, his face serious.

“If it is connected, do you think you could trace the sender’s address back to them Ryu?” Ryutaro looked up from his lunch, nodding, his mouth full.

“Probably. If there have been any electronic communications between the sender of the bomb and the Dojin-kai, then I should be able to. We still don’t have any proof that the bomb is related to the drugs though.”

“Okay. Well then that’s our top priority. We need to figure out who sent this bomb, and if there is any connection from them to our...anabolic steroid-esque drug.” Hikaru declared.

“Can we please come up with another name for this thing? I don’t want to say _’anabolic steroid-esque drug_’ every time we talk.” Inoo asked, a slight whine in his tone.

“How about we just shorten it? ASD?” Daiki offered, and Inoo smiled, treating Daiki to a look of warm affection.

“Perfect. Have I told you that I love you recently?” Daiki beamed, and for a second they seemed to be encased in a bubble of their own creation, blocking out the rest of the world. The bubble broke when Yabu declared

“ASD it is then. Anyone have any complaints?” The table was silent for a moment, before Hikaru declared

“Okay. Kota, Inoo and I will help Ryutaro go through all of the electronic files and the video footage—”

“I’ve also still got the hack open monitoring surveillance around the Dojin-kai’s building.” Ryutaro interjected, and Hikaru nodded, before continuing. “—and Yuto I want you and Daiki to pick a third person and go out to the address on the box the bomb was in and see if you can find anything there.” A grin spread over Yuto’s face when he heard the order, and he nodded.

“Ooh, can I bring the grenade launcher this time?” Daiki asked, perking up at the thought of going out in the field again. Hikaru looked almost weary at the thought, but he nodded.

“I want you to back the other two up. Just in case things go south, I want you to be able to protect them. If we can avoid blowing things up I would prefer it, but if there is a need, you are authorized to destroy whatever you feel is necessary, understood?” Daiki nodded, looking serious but enthusiastic, and Hikaru turned his attention to the room. “The rest of you will be helping Chinen out in his lab and going through the physical files that were brought back. How’s that sound?” There were murmurs of consent all around, and Keito got up to go follow Chinen back to his lab and offer his assistance, when he felt a hand on his arm.

“Want to be our third?” Yuto offered, excitement on his face. “This could be a lot of fun! More fun than reading old files in Chinen’s lab anyway.” There was a jolt in Keito’s stomach at the offer, and he didn’t know if it was from anxiety or excitement, but he smiled, nodding.

“Of course.”

“Great! I’ve gotta tell Daiki, and we have to figure out which vehicle we want to take. I need to see just where we’re going; if it’s far maybe we could take the helicopter! Or maybe Rosalin! I’ll have to check the hangar. This is going to be great!” The words tumbled out of Yuto’s lips in a rush, and he practically bounced away, his long legs carrying him out of the conference room in a few quick strides, and in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Daiki was still in the room, standing off to one side with Inoo, the two holding hands and talking quietly to each other, smiles on both of their faces, and Keito decided he’d make himself useful checking their com equipment and getting the address from the bomb’s box before going to the hangar, hoping that by the time he got there Yuto would have made up his mind about which vehicle they were going to be taking for this trip. When Keito got the box and saw the address, he realized that their vehicular options were going to be limited if they were planning on being back that night. He put his ear piece in, asking over the feed as he made his way to the hangar

“Hey Yuto, you there?” There was a moment of silence, before Yuto’s voice chirped in his ear

“Yup! What’s up? Don’t tell me you changed your mind on me.”

“No...but the return address on the bomb’s box...it’s in Miyagi.”

“Miyagi? Where in Miyagi?” Yuto sounded like he was calculating, and Keito could picture the serious look that had crossed his face, the furrowed brow and the pursed lips, one hand up, his fingers pressing the com softly into his ear.

“Furukawa.” There was silence for a few moments more, and then Yuto declared

“The helicopter can make it that far. We’ll go to the Sendai airport and rent a car from there to get the rest of the way to Furukawa. This is going to be awesome. A proper adventure!” Yuto declared, and Keito couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm, asking

“How long do you think it’s going to take to get there?”

“About two hours each way, most likely.” Yuto declared immediately.

“Maybe we should pick up dinner for everyone on the way back home.” Daiki’s voice cut in, as Keito rounded his last bend in the hallway, opening a door and entering the hangar to see Yuto flitting around one of their three helicopters, checking to make sure it was in top shape for the trip they were about to take it on. As he approached Yuto’s voice filtered back through the coms.

“Okay. What would everyone want? Miyagi is known for their oysters right? But Keito won’t want those....Hikaru talked about natto onigiri or something that he ate when he was a kid. Maybe those would be good.”

“You’re going to feed everyone natto onigiri for dinner?” Daiki asked, seeming to find the idea ridiculous and amusing, as Keito reached Yuto, putting a hand on his shoulder to announce his presence, Yuto too wrapped up in checking the helicopter over and the conversation going on in their earpieces to have noticed his arrival. Yuto smiled at him in greeting, before climbing up on the body of the aircraft to check something with the rotors, saying over the com in a light, teasing tone

“Only you if you take much longer. We’re all ready to go; where are you?”

“Hikaru didn’t put my grenade launcher back where it belongs! I had to track it down!” Daiki told them, sounding as if he expected some sympathy. Keito couldn’t help think that a grenade launcher was really one of the last things one should misplace, regardless of the circumstances, and he was about to say so when Daiki’s voice rang out from across the hangar.

“I’m here!” The smaller man had two large nondescript canvas bags with him, one slung over each shoulder, and they looked heavy, the bulk slowing him down a little, and Keito wondered for a moment just what all Daiki had packed. The thought must have registered on his face, because Daiki declared “Hikaru authorized me to _’destroy whatever I feel is necessary.’_ I am not letting this opportunity go to waste.” He had a light in his eye, an excitement about the prospect that was like that of a small child on their birthday, and Keito decided he didn’t want to know what all Daiki had packed, instead just taking one of the bags off of Daiki’s laden shoulders and carrying it gingerly into the helicopter, having to dodge a swinging foot as Yuto scampered down the side of the aircraft and jumped the last meter or so down to the hangar floor.

“It’s ready!” He declared, leaning into the body of the helicopter and fishing out headsets for everyone, passing them out before clammering into the pilot’s seat, Daiki taking the seat next to him, Keito content to strap in behind Daiki as the hangar ceiling opened up, giving way to the city above them, and Yuto fired the engine up. Keito watched him work, his hands smooth on the controls as he got them in the air, rising up over the buildings, Tokyo soon passing below them in a wash of gray as the afternoon sun glinted in the sky to their right.

It was an uneventful trip, the way up to Sendai passing by in light conversation; speculation about what they were going to find when they got to their destination. Theories were swapped in a joking manner, building in dramatics with each one, scenarios escalating as the time passed. It was fun, Daiki’s elaborate rescue plans making all of them laugh, the smaller man’s vocal sound effects whenever he’d declare that he blew something up particularly amusing. As they got closer to their destination however, things turned more serious, and when Yuto got in contact with the Sendai airport about their landing plan Keito took the opportunity to turn to Daiki and ask, voice low

“Do you think we’re actually heading into a hostile situation?” Daiki pursed his lips, shrugging.

“Maybe? If the bomber is dumb enough to have put their real address on the return label, then it could potentially be dangerous, but at the same time, it would make our job very easy. If it’s a false address then this trip will amount to nothing more than a chance to see Miyagi. Regardless of which it is, I’m here to make sure you get out of this in once piece, okay?” Keito nodded. Daiki did have a point. There was a good chance that this whole trip was going to be a bust.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a bust. It took them about forty-five minutes to reach their destination, which turned out to be a small, cheaply made shack surrounded by rice fields. The property seemed to be abandoned and emptied out, the three of them picking the lock on the door easily and scouring the place for any signs as to who owned it. Yuto was rather disappointed by the outcome, and Daiki asked—as they made to get back in the car and check the public records office to see if there was a name attached to the building at all—if he could blow it up anyway. It was tempting, but they left the structure standing. The public records office didn’t offer much either, the building having been built a few months previous by a German healthcare company, Sonne Gesundheitswesen, a company that when they tried to look up online they couldn’t find.

It was a dead end, and it was slightly disappointing, but they picked up large quantities of oysters and beef tongue for dinner for the team, the prospect of food putting everyone in a better mood. They relayed their findings to the rest of the team before starting back, and despite the frustrating outcome of the venture, Keito thought that it was quite lovely flying back to their base as the sun set to their left, the buildings below bathed in gold. They flew into the night, and it wasn’t until they saw Tokyo on the horizon that Daiki received a call. It was Ryutaro, the youngest member of their team announcing, after Daiki put him through to their coms

“It’s a shell company.”

“What?”

“The company that owns the place in Fukusawa. It’s a shell company.”

“Did you manage to find a connection between the bomb and ASD?” Daiki asked, and to Keito’s surprise Ryutaro said

“Yeah. Kind of. The shell company that owns the shack in Fukusawa has been getting money wired to them from the Dojin-kai every other week for almost half a year, starting only a few weeks before ASD came to our attention. And according to satellite images the building you all visited today was constructed only a short time before that. The timing all lines up perfectly.”

“So...we’re thinking that the bomb was sent to the Dojin-kai by the people supplying them with the ASD?” Yuto asked.

“Yeah; I don’t see any other way this could go. Everything is pointing to that.” Ryutaro sounded pleased with himself, until Keito leaned in, asking

“Have you found any information about the shell company out yet?”

“No.” Ryutaro suddenly sounded disgruntled.

“Okay, but once we do figure out who’s behind it, then we’ll know who’s supplying the Dojin-kai with ASD, right?”

“In theory, yes.”

“What about the German? Are we assuming that the suppliers are from, or based in Germany?” Yuto asked.

“We’re not sure. There’s definitely a possibility, but we haven’t managed to confirm the origin of the shell company yet.”

“Verdammt!” Yuto exclaimed, and Keito giggled. While the exclamation was rude, it always made him laugh when Yuto would try to use the foreign languages Keito would occasionally teach him. Inevitably, Yuto would forget everything except the curses, and it was startlingly cute whenever he would use them.

“Thanks Ryu.” Daiki cut in. “Tell everyone we brought them back something. We should be home in…” He trailed off, looking to Yuto.

“Ten minutes.” Yuto supplied, and Ryutaro just said

“God I hope it’s food. I think Hikaru forgot that the rest of us need more than sheer willpower to survive.” The line went dead, and it wasn’t long before Yuto announced that they were back, slowly lowering the helicopter into a dark nothingness. The hangar was much more ominous at night, Keito decided, amazed at how smoothly Yuto managed to land, despite the narrow opening he had to fit them through. The rest of the night was spent relaxing, everyone excited about the souvenirs they’d brought back from Miyagi, dinner a nice chance to unwind from the events of the day before they all turned in for the night.

Despite the fast paced start to their assignment, the next few weeks were spent pretty quietly. They worked through all of the data and hard information that had been recovered in the bomb incident, and there wasn’t any significant new information on the Dojin-kai or their possibly German suppliers. Ryutaro had a constant video feed covering the Dojin-kai’s main office building, and they all took shifts staking out the place, but the investigation had more or less been wrenched to halt. The only one that was truly working hard was Ryutaro, the youngest member of their team spending hours on end scouring the internet for any traces of the mysterious shell company _Sonne Gesundheitswesen._

Despite all of his efforts, the break they were waiting for came—not from digital means—but from Takaki, the brunette announcing one evening after coming back from staking out the Dojin-kai’s office

“There’s going to be a party.”

“A party?” Yamada asked, looking up from his dinner to treat Takaki to a look of confusion.

“The Dojin-kai. I caught some of them talking at the bar across the street from their offices. Apparently it’s the big boss’ birthday in a few weeks and there’s going to be a huge party. It sounded like people from all over the world will be there; his closest friends and business associates and the like. They even invited Heriberto Lazcano, but I think that’s just a joke.”

“But wait...they’re not based in Tokyo. The Dojin-kai’s main branch is in Fukuoka, right?” Yabu asked, turning to Hikaru, who nodded.

“We need to get in on that party.” Daiki declared. “This is the perfect opportunity for our mystery supplier to spread their influence, or at the very least deepen their relationship with the Dojin-kai. This is our chance.”

“But the Dojin-kai aren’t known for having many allies.” Chinen countered. “The security is going to be absolutely ridiculous at this thing; it’s not like we could just slap on fake name tags and walk on in.”

“I agree.” Yabu declared. “We’re going to need a guest list—”

“On it.” Ryutaro announced, his head bowed over one of his many tablet computers, fingers flying over the touch screen.

“Could we infiltrate the party as staff? Caterers or some other outside hire?” Inoo supplied, and the idea sounded like a good one to Keito, but Hikaru was skeptical.

“The Dojin-kai have their fingers in everything down there. I’d bet they hire people they have personal relationships with for all of their outside needs. Still, it’s worth looking in t—”

“On it.” Ryutaro cut in, head still bowed over his tablet screen.

“What about the shell company?” Keito offered. “Do we have any proof that the Dojin-kai have met anyone from Sonne Gesundheitswesen?” There was a pause, everyone expecting Ryutaro to butt in and give his two cents about Sonne Gesundheitswesen, the younger man having ranted his frustrations about the elusive shell company on a near daily basis, but he stayed silent, not acknowledging Keito’s question at all. After a moment, Hikaru answered.

“Nope. Their records don’t have anything indicating that there has ever been a face to face meeting between the Dojin-kai and the people behind Sonne Gesundheitswesen. We don’t have any phone records however.”

“Well how many people from the Tokyo branch are going to be there anyway?”

“Two.” Ryutaro supplied. “Just the top brass, none of the underlings or part timers.”

“So we just claim to be them.” Inoo declared. “It’s perfect. There will only be two people there that could have a chance of having met who we’re supposedly representing, so as long as we stay out of their paths—”

“That is if they were even invited.”

“Working on it.” Ryutaro grumbled. “How many do we need an invite for?”

“Takaki and Inoo, probably.” Yabu provided. The duo nodded. This was what they had trained for.

“And Keito. If anyone’s going to come off as German it’s going to be him.” Yamada provided, both Hikaru and Ryutaro nodding. Keito took a deep breath, nodding too. Undercover work. He’d never done well in his examinations, they always told him his face was too easy to read.

“Okay, so three on the inside. Got it.” Ryutaro declared, not bothering to look up.

“Oh, are there kids at this party? Maybe those animal costumes will come in handy.” Hikaru suggested, a mischievous light in his eye. There was a moment of silence, all eyes on him for a moment, before Yabu cleared his throat.

“Yuto should be on standby in case they need to make a hasty escape.” He declared, and Yuto nodded immediately, Chinen supplying

“We should look into the building’s structure, and see if there’s a way to sneak in without being seen.” Hikaru frowned, realizing that he was being deliberately ignored.

“Like through the vents?” Daiki asked, and Hikaru visibly perked up.

“I’ll do it!” Hikaru offered, his enthusiasm making Keito smile. The prospect of having Hikaru there, on the inside in case they needed backup was a comforting one. “But seriously guys—the animal suits. I think this could be an opportune moment to—”

“The best cover would probably be as German representatives from Sonne Gesundheitswesen. We’ll start going through our prosthetics.” Inoo declared, cutting Hikaru off.

“And Takaki and Inoo are probably going to need to work on their German.” Yamada supplied, Keito nodding. He and the self proclaimed _deception duo_ were going to be working closely together over the next few weeks it seemed. It could be fun, he’d only ever worked with Yuto when it came to languages.

“I’ll start going over some designs I’ve done for discrete weaponry, see if we can get you three some gadgets that will go undetected by their security checks.” Chinen offered.

“Ryosuke and I should be on standby. Just in case things get messy.” Daiki declared.

“We’ll talk strategy and details once we’ve got a confirmed way into this party.” Yabu announced. “Until then, just do the basic prep work. False identities, prosthesis, language. Hikaru, Yuto, and I will start looking at the strategy, and escape routes, and decide if you’ll be necessary.” When Daiki frowned he reminded the short assassin “The goal is to _not_ make a scene.”

There was a small silence, everything having been more or less covered, until they received new information. All eyes drifted back to Ryutaro, who waved a hand at them, shooing them away, and saying without looking up

“As soon as I’ve got what we need I’ll let you know. This is going to be a difficult hack.” Keito had been expecting to be called back to the conference room either late that night or early the following morning, but there was no word from Ryutaro. After breakfast he made his way down to the computer lab, and when he peered in he found Ryutaro sitting in front of three computers, their screens a mass of coding Keito couldn't begin to understand, with coffee cups and candy bar wrappers littered around him. The younger agent didn't move from his place, and Keito didn't try to interrupt him, instead going right next door to Chinen’s lab.

Chinen wasn't in however—probably still asleep—and Keito was about to simply leave and go see if the deception duo were up and moving, when he heard a noise from around a corner, and he went back in. Maybe Chinen was awake, and he’d just missed him. He peered around the corner, and immediately regretted his decision. It wasn’t Chinen, it was Yabu and Hikaru, and they were wrapped around each other, lips locked and hands on hips and in hair, and it was obviously intended to be a very private moment.

Keito jerked back, trying to be as silent as possible, his heart pounding in his chest, cheeks flushing. He’d noticed that they seemed to have sorted out their problems, but he hadn’t expected to ever run the risk of walking in on them, especially not in a place like this one. He wasn’t silent enough, Hikaru seeming to sense his presence, the older agent opening his eyes and looking up, his gaze catching on Keito’s face, expression twisting into one of embarrassment and surprise, and he pulled away from Yabu, as Keito let out a high pitched

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to—I—sorry! I’ll just….go…bye!” He stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet as he breached the doorway, and he barely heard Hikaru yelling apologies of his own after him. He took a few turns at high speed before he slowed to a brisk walk, making his way down to Takaki and Inoo’s new dressing and makeup room, figuring that even if they weren’t there, they wouldn’t mind him hiding out for a little while, until his embarrassment got down to a more manageable level.

The deception duo weren’t in, but Keito couldn’t help but to slip inside, jaw dropping as he looked around. Takaki and Inoo’s new space was even bigger than their previous one, with countless shelves and walls of mirrors, and clothing of all types. They each had a side, and there was a whole area that Keito had no idea what it could possibly be used for, with lots of tools that seemed to be for creating sculptures. It was amazing to bear witness to, and Keito found himself wandering through the aisles of prosthetics and makeup and clothing, taking in the variation that came with Takaki and Inoo’s special skills.

Keito wasn’t alone for long, Takaki and Inoo entering the room together, Inoo’s bubbly voice announcing their presence, Takaki chuckling at something his partner had said as Keito made his way back up to the door. They didn’t seem particularly surprised to see him, and after a quick greeting Inoo told Keito

“Hikaru said we might find you in here. He also said to tell you he’s sorry? He wouldn’t say what for though, said you’d know.” Keito nodded, feeling slightly guilty for making Hikaru uncomfortable. “Any chance you could tell us what he’s talking about?” Keito blushed again at the memory of the incident, and he shrugged.

“I um...saw something I wasn’t supposed to.” He managed to get out, and Takaki treated him to a knowing look, amusement in his eyes. Inoo whistled, waggling his eyebrows comically at Keito and saying in a suggestive tone

“Nice.” Keito could feel his flush getting redder, and he buried his face in his hands.

“Let’s get his mind off of that, yeah?” Takaki said, and Inoo nodded, declaring

“Keito, you can start helping us with our German! We literally know nothing, so it’s going to require your full attention. How’s that sound?” That didn’t seem to have been what Takaki’d had in mind when Takaki had mentioned a distraction, the brunette looking like he was regretting having said something. Keito however was grateful for the suggestion, and he nodded. He’d been looking forward to getting to teach Takaki and Inoo more than any other part of their mission thus far, and it would be fun to work with them. German wasn’t a difficult language, and it was always amusing to see his teammates—people he knew to be extremely talented—struggle with something.

The trio made their way over to one of the many small tables littered throughout the huge room, the three of them sitting around it, and Keito launched into it. They were only covering the basics, just enough for Inoo and Takaki to get by at the party without raising any suspicions. Keito’s main concern was their accents. Those had to be natural sounding, and it had to be present at all times, especially if they let slip any Japanese. It proved to be harder than expected, Keito starting with basic introductions first, and while Inoo was the more focused and enthusiastic student, Takaki was by far much better at grasping the language naturally.

They worked on accents and small phrases for a few hours, and Inoo’s distraction did the trick, Keito completely focused on the task at hand, the events from earlier in the morning completely leaving his mind. He was having a fantastic time, enjoying working on the words with his teammates. Takaki and Inoo however, didn’t seem to share the sentiment, their eyes beginning to glaze over the longer they sat there, the enthusiasm they’d displayed at the beginning dwindling down to a mostly quiet compliance, and Keito realized that perhaps a break was in order. His suspicions were confirmed when Takaki checked the time on his phone and got to his feet, saying

“It’s been nearly five hours. I’m going to go get lunch.” The declaration made Keito realize just how hungry he was, and as if in response his stomach let out a growl, the noise loud. Inoo laughed at the sound, and Takaki smiled, a triumphant look in his eyes.

“Can I join you?” Keito asked, Inoo too getting up, and the three of them made their way down to the closest kitchen.


	7. Chapter 7

Lunch was a fun affair, Daiki and Yamada coming in from combat training shortly after Keito and the deception duo had sat down with their food. They all sat together, talking and laughing, Daiki telling outlandish stories about the events of the training he and Yamada had just had, the two assassin’s hair sticking to their faces, bodies damp with sweat. The five of them stayed in the kitchen even after their plates had emptied, enjoying each other’s company, and it wasn’t until Yamada declared that it was getting to be nearly two o’clock that they realized just how much time had passed, everyone getting to their feet.

Keito followed Inoo and Takaki back toward the duo’s room of disguises, asking as they walked if the older men were feeling up for more German practice. The response he got was less than enthusiastic, the two scrunching up their faces and sighing, before Inoo let out an almost whiny

“Nein.” The denial made Keito smile, and he nodded, wondering if he should go try and make himself useful elsewhere when Takaki declared, enthusiasm in his voice

“We could start working on your new identity for the party! We’ll need a name, and we haven’t cast you at all yet. We should, so we can start working on your prosthetics.” Inoo made a noise of excitement, and Keito, not sure what Takaki meant, but not wanting to display ignorance, nodded.

“Sure.”

Casting, Keito found out, meant making a mold of Keito’s head, so as to create fitted prosthetics for him. The process required nothing on his part except for the ability to remain extremely still, Inoo and Takaki flitting around him, joking and gossiping as they covered his face in what they told him was petroleum jelly, before getting out something that looked to Keito like more opaque whitish goo, and telling him that he didn’t have to hold his breath, before smearing the goo all over his face. He sat there for hours, listening to his teammates talk and trying to stay still as they smeared more and more goo on him, feeling it harden and weigh on his skin.

It was a rather dull process, but Inoo and Takaki seemed to love it, and they assured him in the end, after they’d removed the rubbery mask, that in a few days when he saw the lifecast they’d created, he would understand their enthusiasm. The next few days continued in much the same way, with Keito helping Takaki and Inoo with their German in the mornings and the deception duo working on helping him create his character for their undercover work, whether that be by working on his acting skills or creating a new identity for him with custom made prosthetic makeup.

While they worked on their new cover identities, the other agents had their hands full with tasks of their own. Chinen was holed up in the lab, working on creating gadgets and weapons that could be snuck into a yakuza party without detection, either from a simple pat down or a security scanner. Yuto, Yabu, and Hikaru spent lots of time casing the joint, Yuto flying the three of them out to Fukuoka frequently, the lot of them often found standing around a table littered in maps and blueprints, talking fast, fingers trailing over the pages. Daiki and Yamada spent nearly all of their time at the shooting range, staking out the Dojin-kai’s Tokyo branch, or being used as guinea pigs for Chinen’s new inventions, and no one saw or heard from Ryutaro, their youngest agent holed up, rarely leaving his computer screens.

Twelve days before the party they intercepted an invitation in the mail, the address on the front the same one they’d traced from the bomb’s shipping box. It was addressed to Sonne Gesundheitswesen, and excitement ran through them at the small victory of procuring a way in. Ryutaro had been the one to report it, emerging from his fortress of technology to tell them that he’d hacked the Dojin-kai’s servers and forged some communications, assuring them that there should be an invitation in the mail for them any day now. That feeling of victory was dampened however when the envelope arrived, and they found that while it was an invitation to Kobayashi Tetsuji’s birthday, it clearly specified that only two people were invited, and only two would be let in.

They discussed over dinner that night which two of them would be the two sent in undercover. It was a hard discussion, but it was eventually decided that Keito would not go in with Inoo and Takaki, and would instead communicate with them over coms, feeding them enough German to come off as naturals, and listening in for any new clues in the multilingual chatter they were expecting to hear at the party. Keito felt that it was rather nerve wracking to change up their plan so close to its execution, but he wasn't truly nervous until one afternoon only three days before the big party, when Yuto confided in him that there was only one way in or out of the building that wasn't the front door, and it was an out of use series of dumbwaiters and trash chutes that had no proper ventilation. They had been talking casually as Yuto inspected the stretch limo he'd chosen to drive undercover for the operation, Keito helping him install their communications system into the car.

“And we’re still moving forward with this plan? It's riddled with flaws.” Keito asked, anxiety bubbling up in his chest. Yuto shrugged.

“Hikaru said he could do it. And Yamada is going to be on standby for close combat backup. Yabu even agreed to it, after Daiki found a good location to set up his sniper rifle. We’ll be waiting in the wings to scoop them out if it gets too fishy. Takaki and Inoo have lots of backup. It's not ideal, but it’ll be fine.”

They worked as a group in the last few days leading up to the party to get their strategy as solid as they could, and Keito was feeling a bit better about the whole thing when the day of the party rolled around. Takaki and Inoo had worked very hard to perfect their German, and honestly as long as Inoo didn't get _’das Tor’ _and _’der Tor’_ mixed up they might actually pull off the whole facade. They certainly looked the part. He'd seen the deception duo do full transformation makeup before, but that night, when they emerged from their wardrobing room, he felt that this time they'd really stepped up their game. Takaki was immensely tall, even taller than Yuto, and he had a short militarian haircut, a thick mustache, and a sharp nose. He had color contacts in, giving him light blue eyes. Inoo meanwhile was done up in a metallic red dress, the plunging neckline revealing a startlingly large amount of cleavage. He had given himself a square jaw and blonde hair that was in elaborate curls, held in place with a jeweled barrette. He too was sporting colored contacts, and the light eyes were striking. They weren't recognizable, but they were definitely going to draw attention. Yuto too was dressing the part, in uniform for his role as Inoo and Takaki’s chaffeur.

They had one final briefing outside the limo before they left, Chinen going over Inoo and Takaki’s gadgets with them, while Yabu and Ryutaro ran through the operation plan again. Keito started to feel his newly instilled confidence waver when as they were getting into the limo to leave, Yabu grabbed Hikaru by the hand, pulling him in for a quick kiss, worry all over their strategist’s face. The trip down to Fukuoka was a long one, and Keito ran over the details of their plan over and over in his mind, trying to focus on the task at hand and not the bubbling pit of worry in his stomach. Halfway there Inoo and Takaki pulled him into a conversation, one last practice of their German conversation skills before the party, and that continued until they made it to their first stop—an office building a few blocks away where Daiki was going to set up with his favorite sniper rifle just in case.

Keito and Yamada were then deposited a block away from the Dojin-kai’s main headquarters, Yuto assuring them that he'd be back as soon as Inoo and Takaki had made it inside. Keito felt rather helpless, standing there watching as his friends left to go into the belly of an underground crime syndicate. Yamada seemed to sense his discomfort, the smaller man putting a hand on his shoulder, assuring him

“They’ll be fine. Daiki’s got their backs already.”

“Everyone’s been saying that. But I just...I don't like this.” Keito admitted. There was a silence, and when he looked over Yamada was frowning at him.

“Have faith that Inoo and Takaki can handle themselves. They've worked very hard for this.” Keito nodded. Yamada was right. If anyone could handle an operation like this one, it was those two. The warm summer wind played across his face and in his hair, and he took a deep breath, sighing and letting his shoulders relax. Yamada smiled at him.

“You don't have any place to be worrying anyway. We’ve got an easy job this time. We’re stuck in the car.” Keito nodded again, and Yamada’s grin grew bigger, his tone taking on a teasing note as he added “Although if you and Yuto need a private moment I’d be more than happy to remove myself from the equation. Give you two some quality one on one time.” Keito hadn't been expecting the suggestion in Yamada’s words, and he found himself sputtering out protests and denials, his companion laughing as his face flushed a deep red. Yamada watched him work himself up even more for a few minutes before he said, laughter still evident in his tone “Alright, I get it. You're a chicken.”

“No. It's just that…”

“That what?” Yamada asked, and suddenly seemed much more invested in their conversation, his curiosity piqued. Keito tried to fight the blush off of his cheeks.

“He's not interested in me like that. He doesn't see me like that.” Yamada’s eyebrows went up, and he was giving Keito a calculating look.

“So you're saying that if you thought you had a chance you’d just go for it? Have you ever displayed any signs that you like him yourself?” Keito shrugged.

“You tell me. How obvious am I?” Yamada nodded.

“You're right. You're totally transparent.” The blush Keito had thought was calming down returned full force at those words, and he found that he couldn't look Yamada in the eye.

“Shut up.” It was at that moment that a familiar black limousine turned the corner headed their way, and Keito was relieved, until Yuto pulled the car to a stop and hopped out, his chauffeur uniform perfectly fitted, the white of his shirt stark in the streetlights, and he bowed, opening the limo door and saying

“If it please you sirs, would you join me on this beautiful evening?” Yamada gave Keito look, and they climbed in the car, Yuto going around to the driver's seat, declaring as soon as he got in “Keito! Want shotgun?” Yamada treated Keito to another pointed look, and Keito mouthed a quick ‘shut up’ to Yamada before climbing up and settling in next to Yuto, a big smile on the taller man’s face. It was cute, and Keito got caught up in it for a few moments, until the com link in his ear chirped, indicating that either Inoo or Takaki had turned theirs on.

“Hey, can everyone hear me?” It was Takaki, and Keito listened as the rest of their team responded affirmatively in his earpiece, Ryutaro adding

“I have thermal imaging and a full render of the venue. Those cuff links are fantastic, Chinen.”

“I know.” Chinen chirped, the words confident, his tone enthusiastic, and Keito could tell that their little inventor was glowing under the praise.

“Hikaru how are you?” Yabu asked, his tone anxious.

“Fine. Not in yet. I’ll keep you updated.” Hikaru didn’t sound too concerned himself, and his calm was assuring.

“Inoo, what are you doing?” Ryutaro’s voice came sharply over the intercom.

“Sorry! Sorry.”

“Shut up!” Yabu hissed. “You're not supposed to know Japanese. Only German from now on; you can't blow your cover.”

“Ja.” The sass in Inoo’s voice was thick, and Keito shook his head in amusement.

“What?” Yabu asked, sounding confused.

“Du hast recht.” Inoo declared, his accent thick. Behind him in the limo, Keito heard Yamada sigh.

“If this keeps up its going to be a very long evening.” The assassin declared. Keito was inclined to agree with him. They all fell silent, listening to Takaki and Inoo, getting as much information as they could from the chatter in the background noise. Keito didn't have much to do at first, most of Takaki and Inoo’s words directed at each other, the two of them working well enough together to derive the others meaning, even if the language used wasn't precise. Keito would occasionally feed them lines, compliments and flattery they could say to the other guests, and he reminded them of any forgotten vocabulary, but their lessons had paid off. Inoo and Takaki were maintaining their cover well.

It was almost two hours into the event, when during the presentation of the birthday cake Inoo declared

“We’ve been spotted.”

“Spotted? By whom?”

_“Das Geburtstagskind.”_ Takaki cursed lowly in his ear, and Keito felt his heart jump in his chest.

“Not just him; the head of the Tokyo branch too. _Kackfass!”_ Their intermittent use of the German language didn't have the charm it usually did, Keito feeling rather nauseous. The whole car froze, everyone going still and silent as they listened to their ear pieces, Inoo and Takaki’s words coming in overlapping each other, and it was apparent that they had split up, the two of them each tackling a different target. Keito shut his eyes, trying to keep track of the two different conversations at once, the two languages being spoken all jumbled up on top of each other making it difficult. Inoo seemed to be doing well, he was being flirtatious with the head of the Dojin-kai, keeping his tone light and occasionally throwing in a few choice words of flattery obvious enough for the man to understand. It was Takaki whose conversation was much more interesting.

He’d apparently gotten into a conversation with the head of the Tokyo branch, and the tone of their words was much more serious. Takaki seemed to be doing his best to maintain his ‘oblivious German’ cover, but his fabrication didn’t seem to be convincing the other man, who kept insisting

“Speak Japanese! We need to talk.”

_“Ich bitte um Ihre Erlaubnis.”_ Takaki’s words came tensely through Keito’s earpiece, and he rushed to translate.

“Takaki wants to know if he’s allowed to speak Japanese with this guy.” His words were quickly disregarded however, because the man Takaki was speaking to seemed to give up, his voice suddenly much clearer, as if he was leaning in close to Takaki’s ear.

“We need to move the date of the Sarushima deal. I want to do a week from Monday instead of Thursday like we had discussed. We’ve had a situation arise that needs to be handled. You understand.”

“Nein.” Takaki declared, and there was a pause.

“You had said that you could be flexible.” The man’s voice was low, threatening, and Keito could feel himself getting more anxious.

“Nein.” Takaki said again. “Donnerstag.” There was a long silence from Takaki’s end, the only voice Inoo, who's flirting sounded like it could be getting a little out of hand. Then, the man said

_“Il n'est pas mon chien à la porte.”_ Keito froze for a moment. That wasn’t Japanese. That wasn’t even English or German. It was French. It was ridiculous French at that. It was a code, he realized. It was a code, and Takaki didn’t know the corresponding phrase. Their cover was blown.

“Get out!” Keito yelped. “Get out of there now!” Yuto immediately turned the car around, circling back toward the Dojin-kai’s headquarters.

_“Ich stecke fest.”_ Inoo’s voice was laced with urgency, and Takaki muttered

“Kommen.” Their grip on the language was slipping as their cover was crumbling, and Hikaru’s voice came over the coms

“What’s going on? I thought things were going well?”

“Takaki’s been outed. There was a coded phrase, and we didn’t know the corresponding response.”

“I’ve got eyes on them.” Daiki declared. “I’m on standby if they need.”

“Uns gehen!” Takaki said, his tone calm, but assertive, and Inoo’s responding “Ja.” made Keito feel that perhaps they’d regained control of the situation, but then there was a curse, and Inoo’s voice came in through the coms, high and all pretense of an accent dropped

“Yuto, are you ready for us?”

“You’ve got four coming from the east.” Daiki warned, Takaki muttering

“I see them. Shit.”

“Run!” Daiki sounded anxious.

“We’re nearly there, coming around the south side now.” Yuto declared, the limousine accelerating at a rate that shouldn’t have been possible, Keito wondering for a split second what kinds of modifications . Somewhere in the back of his mind Keito wondered just what type of modifications Yuto had made to the vehicle.

“We’ll be waiting for you!” Takaki declared. Yuto turned a corner and out the window Keito saw his teammates burst out of the front doors, running pell-mell toward the car, and there was the crack of gunfire ringing out in the night, men in black suits chasing after them. Yamada pushed the limo door open, Yuto slowing down, and Keito could do nothing but watch as Yamada returned fire, Inoo and Takaki leaping into the still moving car and shouting “Go! Go! Go!”

Yuto pulled out away from the building, wheels screeching on the pavement as they left, and in his ear Keito could hear Daiki yelling, and Yabu asking for a status report, and the ringing left in his head from the gunfire. He’d just started to get his bearings when there was a loud thud on the roof, and the car shook, Keito jumping in surprise and nearly yelping when a head popped into view, leaning over their windshield. It was Hikaru, holding onto the roof. He gestured for Keito to get the window, and Keito did, rolling his passenger side window down, Hikaru sliding in with surprising grace, his face pink and hair a tangled mess from the wind.

“Is everyone okay?” Hikaru asked, still situated in Keito’s lap, glancing over Keito’s shoulder to look at Takaki and Inoo, the deception duo sprawled out on the limo floor, Yamada hovering over them.

“Yeah. We’re fine. No major injuries.” Inoo assured them, brushing blonde hair away from his face. “You?”

“I’m going to be feeling that fall tomorrow, but I’m fine.” Hikaru said, a small smile on his face, and Yuto announced over the coms

“Daiki, get packed, we’re coming to get you. Cargo is secure, no one’s hurt, we’re coming home.”

“We’ll debrief tomorrow morning guys. Stay safe.” Yabu’s voice said, everyone making noises of consent, before going radio silent.


	8. Chapter 8

The ride back was a quiet one. Daiki was extremely worried about Inoo, fussing over him as soon as they were reunited. Inoo didn’t seem to mind, curling into Daiki’s touches and letting his boyfriend chatter concernedly at him. Hikaru moved to the body of the limo and out of Keito’s lap, leaving Keito and Yuto alone up in the front of the car. Takaki and Yamada fell asleep pretty promptly, and Keito felt himself growing weary after a while, the drive back long, and his body exhausted and drained after all of the excitement. Most of them fell asleep at some point, Keito talking quietly with Yuto about little, menial things to pass the time and help keep Yuto from getting drowsy. They reached Tokyo with the sun, the sky losing it’s stars and turning bright as they descended into the base.

The others were there to greet them, Chinen looking as if he had just been woken up, and Yabu went to Hikaru at once, Chinen grumbling about how everyone that had left the limousine during the operation needed to be given a proper medical examination before they’d be cleared to go to their beds. He didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea, as he was the one that would have to do the examinations, and it was something that would be keeping him awake. He stopped grumbling however when it became apparent that Hikaru had actually hurt himself when he’d leapt onto the top of the limousine, the older man limping, favoring one arm as he went to help Daiki unpack his array of weapons from the car.

Keito was told that he was free to go to bed, and he and Yuto both split off from the rest of the group, Keito blindly following Yuto through the halls, Yuto somehow still bright eyed, slinging an arm around Keito’s shoulders in a comforting fashion. Keito didn’t understand how Yuto could be so calm and awake. They’d had what was probably the most exciting night of their lives, and he was just walking along, a small smile on his face as he glanced over at Keito. He should be excited, or exhausted, or both. Keito found, in his weary and sleep ridden brain, concern for Yuto becoming the foremost emotion, and he asked

“Hey, are you okay?” Yuto looked over at him in surprise.

“Yeah.”

“You’re acting kinda weird.” Keito told him, and Yuto looked away.

“I was just thinking….” He sighed, his head rolling back to look up at the blank white of the ceiling, his adam's apple jutting out away from the smooth line of his neck. He had his eyebrows furrowed now, thin lips pursed, and the arm he had wrapped around Keito squeezed a bit tighter. “I’m glad you didn’t go with Takaki and Inoo. That’s all.” There was some sort of emotion on Yuto’s face, but Keito was too tired to try and analyze it right now, and so instead he just nodded, murmuring good nights to Yuto when they split off to go to their separate bedrooms, before stripping out of his uniform and crashing onto his bed, asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He was woken by something hard bumping him on the head, an obnoxious, incessant beeping sound registering shortly afterwards, and he tried to ignore it, and go back to sleep, but the thing bumped into him again, and then again, and he found himself sitting up just to find a way to make the damned thing stop. The culprit was some sort of hovering disc, white and only about ten centimeters in diameter and three centimeters thick, it was floating over his bed, and for a moment Keito stopped to examine it, surprised. He’d never seen something like this before. But then it made that beeping noise, and he scrunched his face up in discomfort.

He reached out to try and grab it, to figure out how to turn it off, but it moved away, just out of arm's reach, hovering there, and for a few moments they stayed still, Keito not fully awake yet, his arm still outstretched toward the disc. But then it beeped again. He let out a whine, getting up and snatching at it, but it evaded capture, going to his doorway and hovering at eye level, staying silent for another few moments before beeping again. It was agitating, and Keito found that all he wanted was to shut the thing up so he could go back to sleep. He tried running at it, feeling like if he could just get his hands on it, he could beat it. The little disc just zipped ahead of him, whirring down the hallway and beeping the whole way.

He jerked to a stop as soon as it got out of sight, turning around and making to go back to his bed, but then the beeping started growing closer, and over his shoulder he saw the _thing_ hovering about a meter away from him. Confused and unhappy about being woken up, he grumbled a bit to himself, going after the damned disc. It remained about a meter away from him, regardless of any of his attempts to evade or capture it, and Keito found that he was so focused on getting the machine to shut up that he hadn’t realized that it was leading him to the conference room until he was there, standing in the doorway in his underwear, his teammates all sitting around in chairs, looking up at him with humor in their eyes.

The disc dropped to the center of the conference table, falling with a thud as if it had suddenly lost power, and Chinen leaned over, picking it up in his tiny hands.

“I’m calling that a success.” Chinen declared, putting the disc in his lap, and Keito frowned, understanding dawning on him. Chinen had tricked him and dragged him out of bed with that little device. “You were my first human test on this little drone.” Chinen told him enthusiastically, confirming Keito’s suspicions. “It’s made to be more than an alarm clock of course, but that was a good first step.”

“What...what’s happening?”

“Debriefing meeting.” Ryutaro said bluntly.

“Well, and tactical meeting.” Inoo tacked on. “The debriefing part is pretty much over already.”

“We were going to let you sleep, but...it’s almost noon.” Yamada told him, and Keito blinked in surprise. Almost noon? He’d slept like a rock.

“Take a seat, Keito.” Hikaru said, and Keito nodded, feeling embarrassed now that he was apparently not only late to a team meeting, he was attending it in nothing but his underwear. He sat down in the last empty chair, squished between Inoo—who giggled—and Yabu, who looked slightly disapproving. He could feel himself blushing, and he reached up, trying to stifle a yawn as he ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame it, hoping that it wasn’t sticking up. Yuto was smiling at him from down the table, and Keito met his eyes for a moment, before Yabu cleared his throat

“So, as Takaki was saying, the Dojin-kai seem to be making some sort of deal with the drug supplier. Probably a larger shipment. There are some old ports still left on Sarushima Island from its time as a military base in the Second World War.”

“But Sarushima is a tourist location now. And it's out in the middle of Tokyo bay. How do the Dojin-Kai think they're gonna get these drugs off the the island? By ferry?” Daiki asked, and there were collective shrugs and grunts of indecision.

“Regardless, the meeting is in four days.”

“We’ve gotta go. This is a great opportunity. We could end this now.” Takaki’s enthusiasm was tempered by Yamada, the little assassin sounding concerned as he asked

“Do we have enough time to prepare?” His question was answered with another question.

“Will Hikaru be ready to go back in the field in four days?”

“It’ll be fine—” Hikaru started, but no one was looking at him. Everyone had turned to Chinen for the answer instead.

“He won’t be anywhere near fully healed, but if we dope him up on some good painkillers, he’ll have full range of movement.” Hikaru nodded, but Yabu looked skeptical.

“I can handle it.” Hikaru assured them.

“What are you handling exactly? What’s the goal for this op?” Ryutaro’s blunt, snarky questions made Keito smile. He did however have a point.

“Well...that depends on what we find on the island. We have for the most part managed to keep from arousing any suspicions.”

“I dunno, last night we were pretty suspicious.” Takaki admitted. Hikaru treated him to a look, before continuing

“The goal is to find out who’s behind Sonne Gesundheitswesen and take them out, so if we can avoid confrontation we will. But...just...stay flexible. If the opportunity comes to take them out on the island, I want to take it.”

“Sounds good to me!” Yuto declared. Takaki however didn’t seem to feel Yuto’s confidence.

“Daiki will be covering us with his sniper rifle or grenade launcher or something though, right?”

“Yes!” Daiki declared, before anyone else could say otherwise.

“Apparently he will be.” Yabu said, obviously amused by Daiki ‘s enthusiasm.

“Me too.” Yamada declared.

“Who all is going into the field this time?” Can I come?” Yuto asked.

“Well, Yuto, that depends on what sort of strategy we can come up with. If you coming into the field is our best option, then yes, but honestly if we need a quick exit then you might have to stay in the vehicle.” Yuto seemed to deflate a bit at Yabu’s non answer. Ryutaro butted in, pulling up satellite images of the island on his tablet and saying

“Sarushima doesn’t really have anywhere we could land the plane, or the helicopter. It’s tiny.”

“Looks like if we take a boat that would probably be our best option.” Yabu observed, leaning across the table and zooming in on the image, his eyes sharp as he swiped at the screen.

“We don't even know which area of the island the deal is going down on.” Chinen reminded them all.

“I’ve already tasked a few satellites to keep an eye on the island. As soon as a member of the Dojin-Kai is spotted, we’ll know.” Ryutaro assured them, handing Yabu his tablet, to get the older man to stop leaning in so close to him.

“Let's break for lunch, and we’ll start a proper strategy discussion in the afternoon. Hopefully by then we’ll have a bit more to go on.” Hikaru offered, and everyone nodded, Keito relieved. He was starving. “Alright! Meeting adjourned.” Hikaru declared, and they all scattered, Keito immediately heading back to his room to put some clothes on. Lunch was leisurely, everyone chatting and teasing him for sleeping in. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the conference room, attempting to plan for every scenario, and trying to predict where on the island the deal would go down.

The next few days were spent like that; planning. They took satellite images and kept eyes on the Dojin-kai’s email accounts, and by the time Thursday rolled around they had some semblance of a plan. Honestly, they didn't have much, but they couldn't just sit around at home while a major deal went down right under their noses. What they did have was pretty simple. Keito was to be on the ground inside the building they’d pegged as the location that this presumed deal was to go down in, along with Yamada and Yabu. He was there to listen, and translate, as they had no idea what languages these suppliers would be speaking. Yamada and Yabu, meanwhile, were there to watch his back and to work to keep everyone on their team safe and undetected.

Hikaru and the deception duo were to be their backup on the ground. They were to scatter and post themselves outside of the building’s perimeter, ready to jump in if Keito and his group needed backup. Yuto, to Keito’s relief, was staying on the boat. He was transporting them to and from the island in a small speed boat, and he’d been given clear instructions to stay on it, in case they needed to make a hasty getaway, or for some reason they couldn’t make it back to the boat’s original docking location. He hadn’t been all that keen on missing out on the action, Keito knew, but it was the part of the plan Keito had been the most assured by.

Daiki meanwhile, had picked a nearby rooftop to perch on for the operation, and he had spent a good deal of time with Chinen, who it seemed had been developing him some sort of new weaponry. Daiki had already been working on a list of long range weapons that he felt would be good for the op, and it would be reassuring, except that the goal of the whole thing was to just...observe. They were planning on gathering intelligence, and with any luck nothing would need to be shot at at all. The plan was quite flexible however, Keito knew. If this meeting between the Dojin-kai and the mysterious Sonne Gesundheitswesen did turn out to be some sort of major deal, like many of his companions seemed to believe it was, then they were probably going to be doing much more than listen in on a conversation. It was an opportunity to take out the bad guys and complete their mission, and so the plan was subject to change on the fly.

The flexibility made Keito anxious. Anything could happen, and they didn’t have much in the way of backup plans. He seemed to be the only one feeling that way however, the rest of his team enthusiastic and confident that Thursday afternoon when they left their underground base and headed off toward Yokosuka. He didn’t voice his concerns, not wanting to spoil the mood. Besides, his teammates were probably right. There was no reason to go into the op with a negative state of mind. This was their chance. This could blow the mission wide open for them.

It took them a little over an hour to get to the coast, the sun beginning to set as they loaded their equipment onto the little unassuming speedboat Yuto had picked for the mission. As soon as they were clear of the dock he took off, the little boat tearing through the water at terrifying speeds, the lot of them all scrambling for something to grab onto as Yuto let out a little whoop of happiness. It took them barely five minutes to get to the island, and Yuto took the boat up around to the northwest corner, pulling up close to the forested edge of land and holding steady while Hikaru and Inoo tied the boat up, everyone unloading.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t come?” Yuto asked, watching from the deck as the last of them made it to dry land. Keito looked up at him, and he couldn’t help but smile. Yuto looked stunning in the sunset, his pale skin glowing pink in the last rays of the setting sun, hair washed in orange, lit up from the back, he looked like a living flame, bright against the dark sky. It was calming, and Keito felt a bit better. Yuto it seemed, didn’t feel better, frowning as Yabu assured him that his most helpful location would be at the boat. But he didn’t protest any further, just nodding and saying “Good luck. I’ll be on coms.”

It was a small trek from where they’d left the boat to the building they were to be infiltrating, and as they walked, the sun sank completely into the water, and as the last rays of light left, Keito’s anxiety rose. He tried not to think about his trepidations, tried to just stay focused on his job. He ran through French and German vocabulary and grammar structures in his head as they moved, and that did serve to calm him a bit. Language was soothing. As soon as they caught sight of the building they split up, Keito latching onto Yamada’s side, the shorter man treating him to a warm smile, before patting him on the back and casually handing him a large switchblade. Yabu joined them, flanking Yamada’s other side, and while the rest of the team fanned out, they continued to plod through the trees in a beeline for the old abandoned weapons building.

It was a large concrete structure, slowly being reclaimed by nature, moss growing on the gray slab in droves, cracks forming in the sides where roots and vines had begun to worm their way into it. It had been left, abandoned after World War II, and it was one of the few places on the island that tourists were not allowed to visit. The door wasn’t even properly locked, Yamada having no trouble getting them inside. The three of them fanned out, hiding amongst large crates and high metal shelves, and as they did in his ear Keito heard his companions announcing that they too had taken their positions. Now, all there was to do was wait for the bad guys to show up. He felt like he was going to be sick.


	9. Chapter 9

The operation was a total disaster. They waited in the darkness for about twenty minutes, Keito’s heart in his throat, his palms sweating, before Daiki’s voice in their ear announced

“They're here. Someone is here.”

“Who is it?” Yabu hissed, sounding almost as tense as Keito felt. The wait must have put a strain on his nerves too.

“I can't tell yet.” Daiki told them. “No one I recognize...hold on, there's a foreign guy. There’s a couple of foreigners. It's gotta be the supplier. Yamada, he’s headed your way. Him and five others.” On instinct Keito crouched even lower to the ground, bracing himself as the door to the abandoned weapons building was pushed open, the sound of shoes on the concrete slab echoing loud in the black silence. His breath hitched in his throat, and Daiki’s voice seemed too loud in his ear, as their sniper declared “They’re checking the perimeter. Hikaru, they’re headed toward the eastern wall.”

“Understood.” Keito’s eyes were wide, and he was up on the balls of his feet, crouched low, listening to the clack of shoes of the concrete floor, trying to gauge just how many people there were. It seemed like a lot. Every movement his body made felt too loud, every breath felt like it was going to give him away, and as the seconds dragged on into minutes the paranoia didn’t cease. His team had gone radio silent, and he didn’t see any of his companions, feeling more isolated than he’d thought he would. The party eventually seemed to deem themselves safe, the sounds of footsteps ceasing, instead replaced by murmurs and the sounds of shifting bodies.

The near silence was long, and the longer it stretched the more restless the men in the room seemed to get. Keito could feel their impatience in the air, and he had to force himself to move to get closer. He was here to listen in. He had to eavesdrop, the was his whole purpose for being here, and he couldn't do that if he was hiding away in the corner furthest from the action. The longer they waited the closer he got to the mass of people, creeping toward the door—the only way in or out—his heart pounding in his ears. He tried to calm himself down. He needed to be able to hear them.

Keito picked a spot behind a thick metal rack, barely a meter from the conglomeration of bodies waiting by the door. He'd just barely decided that he was in an ideal location for listening in when there was the sound of the door opening, and his breath hitched in his throat. There was the rustle of movement, and the clack of footsteps on the hard concrete floor, and Keito took a deep breath, peering through the rack to see a second hoard of people coming in, the mass of people in suits parting to let through a man Keito recognized from the manila folders they had been given when they'd been assigned this mission. It was the head of the Tokyo branch for the Dojin-kai. Keito tried to remember his name. Fukuma or Fukui or something. The man had a stern look on his face, and he approached the foreign man, barking out in heavily accented English

“I am upset you still don’t trust us. We have agreed to all of your terms.” The foreign man shifted his weight, hands in his pockets, and while his back was turned, and Keito couldn’t see his face, his voice had a tone of surprise.

“I assure you, Mr. Fukui, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” That apparently was not the right thing to say, the yakuza leader getting up in the foreign man’s face, the gun on his hip glinting pointedly in the moonlight pouring in through the still open doorway.

“You don’t know? Do not lie to me. The entire building...it was…” He sounded angry, tone lowering menacingly, but he trailed off, as if struggling to find the word he was looking for. There was a long moment of silence, before he finally snapped out “listening! We had to....boom!” Fear washed over Keito, dropping in his stomach like a bucket of ice as he realized what the man was saying. They had discovered the radio waves from his team’s communications system. They’d thought it was just Sonne Gesundheitswesen, but it wouldn’t take long before they would figure out the truth. Shit.

“We’ve been made. They know we’re here. What’s the plan?” Silence. “Hikaru?” Nothing. “Yuto? Daiki? Anyone?” He was muttering frantically into the com link, listening to the sound of his heart pounding and the voices of the Dojin-kai’s upper level man still talking with the foreigner, bewilderment and suspicion creeping into their tones.

“That was not us, Mr. Fukui.” The representative from the mysterious Sonne Gesundheitswesen assured the yakuza men. “That had to be someone else.”

“Who?” The question hung in the silence, and Keito realized that his teammates could not hear him. The Dojin-kai had said they had _had to boom._ He felt a shiver of something that felt like dread ring through him as he came to understand what that meant. They’d set off some type of EMP, to keep from being spied on, and in that they’d managed to blow all communications, anything that ran on electricity was fried. He was essentially alone. Fuck. He turned away from the deal, abandoning his post with little thought to anything but an escape plan, and he scrambled into the shadows, into the dark recesses of the old bunker, hoping to find Yabu or Yamada, hoping that maybe they could regroup and get out okay. Somehow.

All they needed was a clear route to the door. If they could make it outside then they’d have a fighting chance to escape unscathed, but that possibility seemed bleak at best. With the coms out there was no way his team would know that they were in trouble, and they were trapped in the bunker like fish in a barrel, the only way in or out that main door, the door that was surrounded by yakuza and drug suppliers. He weaved through empty racks and long halls looking for signs of his companions, but the halls were quiet, and they had hidden themselves expertly. He considered calling out to them, but he found his voice catching on a lump in his throat, and every time he opened his mouth he ended up shutting it again, silent.

It wasn’t long however before the bunker was no longer silent. He’d only been searching for a minute or so before Keito heard the sounds of unfamiliar voices, raised and angry sounding, feet pounding on the concrete floor, and there was a heavy sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized that the groups of people by the door had realized that they were not alone. Shit. He needed to find Yamada, needed to find Yabu, needed to come up with a plan, because he couldn’t do this if he was all alone. He needed his team. He picked up his pace, searching frantically, and it wasn’t long before he found _someone,_ but it wasn’t someone he wanted to see.

He turned a corner, and all of a sudden there was a blinding light in his face. A moment later there was a yell of triumph, the sound angry and full of determination, and he spun on his heel, turning and running away from the light, panic spiking in his chest as he heard the slap of shoes on the concrete floor pick up speed. He had been spotted, and was being chased. He had to outrun them. He had to. He tore down aisles, but the more he ran the more pursuants he picked up. It seemed that in his panic to escape he’d lost a good deal of his stealth. He was falling back on basic human reactions. He was scared. He just _ran._ He lost track of where he was, the large dark building a maze of shelves and old rusted equipment, and he tried to fight the rising tears in his eyes, the panic ballooning in his chest as he started to feel the hope draining out of him.

He ran smack into Yamada. He nearly got killed for it too, the small assassin lunging out at him, a blade fitted between his fingers like it belonged there, the sharp edge whipping across Keito’s cheek, and Keito could see the shock and will in Yamada’s eyes, and he couldn’t even find it in himself to be anything but relieved, wrapping his arms around his friend for a moment, the words rushing out of him, slipping off of his tongue high pitched and anxious.

“They’re coming. They know.” The words were redundant, the footsteps that had been following him coming around the corner as he spoke, a horde of them, probably ten or more, and that light, probably a flashlight, announced his pursuants’ arrival in a way that could not be ignored. Yamada didn’t even blink, pulling two handguns off of the holster on his hips and leveling them, one in each hand, before opening fire, yelling to Keito without taking his eyes off of his target

“Run!” There was the sounds of bodies hitting the ground, and then the men that had been pursuing Keito started returning fire, and Keito had no choice but to do as Yamada had said, the crack of gunfire leaving his ears ringing, all other sound drowned out. He supposed that was why he didn’t hear the sound of the window shattering, glass falling down on him, a canister barely missing his head as it whizzed past, hitting a shelf with a metallic clang before the already dark bunker grew to be even darker. It happened in moments. One second Keito was pounding down a long hallway, the next second he couldn’t see two centimeters in front of his face.

Everything was blackness, he had no hope of finding his way out in darkness that thick, he knew, and he slowed down, arms out in front of him, hoping to get lucky and stumble across the exit. In the distance he could still hear gunshots, could still hear the sound of Yamada fighting, and he felt rather sick. He wanted to go back and help, but he couldn’t find his way back now, and besides, he would probably only get in the way. Yamada could handle himself. He had been one of the best in his field, back when he had been training. He’d been practicing for this since he was eleven. He would be fine. He had to be fine.

Keito heard the loud crack of a gun going off, ear splittingly loud, and he didn’t have time to register just how close that had been before he felt a white hot pain tearing through his left shoulder. He let out a yelp of pain, curling in on himself, and that was when he felt a hand on his arm, and on reflex he grabbed the hand and pulled, yanking his attacker closer, throwing them off balance before punching out in the darkness, his fist plowing into what felt like a throat. There was a wheezing gasp somewhere by his left ear, and he punched again, this time hitting something more full of bone, before he heard the metallic sound of a trigger being pulled, and he felt a bullet bust through his right arm, all noise and pure pain.

He yelled, throwing himself at his attacker, reaching out blindly with the one arm that he could use. His arms were screaming in protest, hitting anything he could find. The gun went off again, but this time they missed. Keito couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, ears ringing from the sound of gunfire, and all he could feel was the flaming pain in his torso, in his limbs, and the flesh of the man trying to kill him. He scrambled, going for the man’s neck, hands wrapping around it and squeezing, but it left him open, and there was a crack from the gun, and a third bullet tore through his side. Keito curled in on himself in instinct, hands going to the wound, and there was a sharp pain in his skull, and then there was nothing.


	10. Chapter 10

Pain. All he knew was pain. Consciousness hit him like a truck, and he went from feeling nothing to feeling everything in an instant. It was disorienting, and nausea washed over him almost as quickly as the pain had, chasing it with such suddenness that he barely had time to lean over before his stomach was rejecting all of its contents, vomit splattering warmly on the floor and on his feet. He let out a whine, his stomach still churning, and he scrunched up his face, trying to gain control over his still heaving insides, and he blinked, eyes not focusing for a moment. He had to concentrate hard to put together a train of thought, and the realization dawned on him that he must have a concussion. Well, at least that explained the vomiting. And the throbbing pain in his head.

He took a few deep breaths, trying to pull himself together, trying to get past the pain and nausea and focus on figuring out just how bad of a situation he was in. He was sitting up, in a chair, he realized. And his hair was all in his face. He made to brush it out of the way, but he found that he couldn’t, a sharp pain shooting up his right arm, and he looked down. He was tied up. And mostly naked. He was in nothing but his underwear, and was covered in blood. He had red stained bandages wrapped all up his torso, and he followed them up one shoulder, shifting in his chair and feeling harsh spikes of pain, the muscles and tendons protesting. Even if he hadn’t been tied to the chair, he wasn’t sure he could have gotten himself out of it. That wasn’t good. What the hell had happened? Where were his clothes? Where was he?

His surroundings were pretty nondescript. He appeared to be in a basement of sorts, he thought. The walls were concrete, exposed pipes running across the ceiling. Up by the junction of the walls and the ceiling were small, narrow windows that let light in, supplementing a boxed rectangular fluorescent light placed up on the ceiling in between Keito’s chair and the door. Given a couple of hours he’d know which way this building was facing, which was...well...it was a start. He tried to kick his feet out, but he found that his ankles had been tied to the legs of the chair as well, and he was completely trapped. There was no way he could get out of here at this rate. And it seemed that his captors had stripped him of everything he’d had on him when they’d found him.

He tried to remember what had happened to get him here. Fuck his head hurt. There had been something with the Dojin-kai. Something big. And there had been a boat. He tried to remember why there had been a boat, but he couldn’t. All he knew was that there had been one. And that he wasn’t afraid on the boat. Another wave of nausea washed over him, and he leaned over the side of his chair, this time managing to avoid his shoes as he puked. He hadn’t gotten a concussion in a long time. He’d forgotten how much they sucked. He was there for hours, alone, watching the sunlight from the windows travel over the walls as he fought to keep from vomiting again, taking in his injuries as best he could without the use of his hands or a mirror.

He’d been shot. He’d been shot at least once, in the shoulder. He’d probably been shot in the arm too, but that injury didn’t seem to be as bad. Perhaps it had just grazed him. He was considering attempting to go back to sleep when the door he’d been facing swung open, and a large caucasian man with light hair and a thin nose walked in. He’d thought he’d been taken by the Dojin-kai, judging by the bullet wounds, but if this guy’s appearance was anything to go on, he most definitely wasn’t with the yakuza. Hopefully he was at least still in Japan. The guy strode in, leaving the door open, his big frame blocking the entryway, and it wasn’t until he got closer to Keito, and saw the vomit that he spoke, his voice rough and gravelly, and harsh as he cursed

“Putain, ça schlingue!” Keito frowned. French. That wasn’t right. Did they know of anyone that spoke French, or was this a third party kidnapping? That didn’t seem likely. He was still having a hard time focusing, and he knew this concussion had to be a nasty one. If he’d been shot twice he probably had lost a lot of blood too. French. Something clicked in his subconscious. The code phrase at the Dojin-kai’s party had been French as well. Perhaps the Dojin-kai’s supplier wasn’t German after all. As he thought through all of this, the big light haired man puttered around the room behind Keito, and Keito hadn’t really been paying attention to what he’d been doing, until there was a harsh spray of cold water on his feet, and he jumped in surprise, curling his toes and tensing up.

“Reste ici.” The man said gruffly, after the hose he’d been using to spray down the floor had been turned off, and he plodded back out the door, slamming it shut behind himself. Okay, so he was probably being held hostage by Sonne Gesundheitswesen, who probably weren't German. Probably. He still had no idea how he’d ended up in this place, but that was probably the concussion. And he still had no idea if he was even in Japan. What did Sonne Gesundheitswesen want with him anyway?

That question was answered when ten or so minutes later a group of four foreign men joined him in his basement, one of them leaning down, getting in his face, and saying

“C'est quoi ton travail?” When he didn’t respond, the man repeated the phrase again, before sighing, and switching to English.

“What the fuck are you? Who do you work for?” Keito kept his mouth shut, not even looking at the guy. So they didn’t know who he was either. That was good. His cover hadn’t been completely blown then. There was a long pause, and then the man questioning him stood back up, just enough to swing his arm back, slugging Keito in his left shoulder, right where he was the most sensitive. Right where he’d been shot. He let out a yelp of pain, body bucking, and the man glared down at him. “Who do you work for?” Keito took a few shuddering breaths, feeling the hot rush of blood pooling up under his bandages as harsh waves of pain radiated from his shoulder, but he clenched his jaw, keeping his mouth shut. So this was how it was going to be. He began to steel himself for a few long days of pain.

The days began to all blur together. Everything hurt all the time. He knew he was broken, his body beaten on multiple times a day. His captors would spend most of their time interrogating and torturing him. Mostly torturing him. He’d managed to keep his silence, not having spoken a word since he’d woken up tied to a chair. If he wasn’t so thoroughly fucked he’d be rather proud of himself. He’d held up well in interrogation simulations when he’d been training, but those hadn’t really prepared him for the real thing. His captors had pretty much stopped speaking French to him, instead only using English, and they all seemed to be fluent in both, although none of them appeared to know any Japanese. They mostly spoke French to each other however, and Keito thought it was because they believed he couldn’t understand them. It was because of this false sense of safety that Keito was able to get some snippets of information.

He was facing north. That one he picked up on from the sunlight shining in through the windows. He was still in Japan. Though where in Japan he had no idea. He had been patched up by a doctor before they’d strung him up. The doctor hadn’t come by to do any checkups however, and Keito had a feeling that he wouldn’t be getting any more favors from these people. He learned most of their first names. They were mostly English based names, like Clyde and Jack, and he wondered vaguely if they were even from France. There was another name he heard a lot, but never saw the owner of, and that was _Mister Roy._

Keito knew that this Mister Roy had to be important, and he repeated the name over and over in his mind, determined not to forget it. If he ever got out of here, his team would need to know about Mister Roy. And Sam Wilkins, and Jack Fredrickson, and all of these men. He kept quiet, and listened, and waited for a window of opportunity. He could tell as the days rolled by that his captors were beginning to get frustrated with him. Their patience was beginning to wear thin, and it would eventually mean they’d make a mistake. Either that or they would kill him.

He missed his team. He thought about them a lot. He wondered if they were coming for him, or if they had given up. Had he been gone long enough to be presumed dead? Yuto. God, he missed Yuto. It was probably pathetic just how much he thought about Yuto, but he didn’t much care. He may never see Yuto again. He wished he could remember how he’d ended up captured. Then he could probably remember the last thing he’d said to Yuto. He hoped it had been nice. He hoped Yuto was still looking for him, even if the others weren’t. As long as Yuto didn’t give up on him, he knew he’d be okay.

It was somewhere near a month into the whole ordeal when his captors finally made a mistake. They’d been attempting another interrogation after the sun had gone down, and Keito’s silence had really been wearing on the men. Their attempts to draw out information turned quickly from asking questions to running blades down his bare skin, and he could tell he was wearing them down, but it was hard to keep positive when there was a knife playing thin lines of blood down his thighs. Hot pain throbbed in the blade’s wake, but the pain kept his head clear. He knew this time was different when one of the men asking the questions suddenly turned to his companions, saying

“Enough of this. L'emmener à l'étage.” Keito froze, mind racing. He was being moved. This was perfect. This was his chance. There was a pause, everyone stilling for a second as they considered what was about to happen, but then the knife on his thigh moved up to his wrist, the blade digging underneath the thick coils of rope that had dug into his flesh so much as to rub him raw, and dragging through it, the feeling of the rope peeling away making Keito shudder in relief. It was then however that a hand wrapped around from behind his chair, fingers digging into his throat, cutting off his air for a moment as a voice growled in his ear

“Don’t you dare try anything. I’ll fucking kill you. I’ll kill you now.” Keito whined, struggling to breathe, and he reached up with his free hand, his fingers working to find purchase when the grip on his throat went lax, the threat made, and he took big gulping breaths, trying to calm his heart, watching as the rope ties on his other wrist were cut. He started calculating. He was being taken up. How far up he didn’t know, but he knew he didn’t want to get past the first floor. The first floor was the closest to freedom. He just hoped when he got there he’d have a chance to escape.

He was pulled out of the chair and to his feet, and he honestly nearly fell on his face. He hadn’t used his legs in a while. The joints were stiff and he hadn’t eaten a proper meal in weeks. He had to conserve his strength. He couldn’t give any indication that there was any sort of fight left in him. He let them manhandle him, and drag him up out of his chair and out the door. There was a long set of concrete stairs up to the first floor, and Keito could feel adrenaline pumping through his veins when he caught sight of the doorway at the top, yellow light shining through the open space.

It was bright, too bright after being kept in that basement, and when they reached the landing he scrunched his face up, fighting against his body’s natural reaction to shut his eyes, working to try and find an escape route. A door, a window, something. He was flanked on each side by one of his captors, another at his back. The one that had ordered for him to be taken up had gone up ahead of them, and it wasn’t until they rounded a corner, and Keito saw him filling up the large, industrial sink with water that he understood what they had planned for him.

The windows in the kitchen were bigger, big enough, and Keito didn’t think twice before slamming his elbows into his captors’ chests, ripping his arms free and bolting for the closest window, throwing himself into it and hoping that the ground wasn’t too far. It wasn't. He fell for maybe two meters before hitting solid earth, glass falling with him. He could feel it digging into his body, but he paid it no mind, his main focus the yelling and banging coming from the building. He pushed himself to his feet, his left shoulder burning with pain, his body already trembling with the strain he was putting on it, and he ran. He ran out away from the building, and into the night, his bare feet pounding on uneven ground. Behind him, he could hear their shoes, could hear their shouts as they chased after him.

He eventually hit a road, and up ahead there were buildings. Commercial buildings, a town. He pushed harder, knowing that in the thicket of a town he could lose them. He ducked into the first alley he saw, not wanting to run into any people, not knowing where he was or what to do outside of _escape. _He was still naked, covered in old and new blood, and he hadn’t showered in at least a month. He needed help. He needed to figure out where he was. He kept running, running long after the voices faded into nothingness, running for hours, weaving through buildings and dodging any people he saw out in the streets. He ran until he physically could not run anymore, until the sun started to peek out over the horizon, and he tripped, falling to his knees. He wasn’t sure he could get up.

It was then that he heard the sound of sirens wailing, the unmistakable noise of cop cars, and as they got progressively louder he realized that they were probably coming for him. Fuck. His organization was a secret. His identity was a secret. He didn’t have a birth record or a social security number. He wasn’t listed on any family registry. He couldn’t be taken in by the cops. He couldn’t be exposed. Not on his first mission. Not like this. He let out a whine, tears of frustration rolling down his cheeks, when suddenly there was a hand on his arm, grabbing him and yanking him up.

“C’mon! We’ve got to go!” Keito could barely believe his ears, and he stumbled to his feet, mouth hanging open in dumb shock as he was dragged back the way he had come, Hikaru asking insistently “Can’t you move any faster? Yamada’s going to cause a major distraction in a bad way if I don’t get you out of here in the next two minutes.”


	11. Chapter 11

Keito was in shock. Hikaru was here. His team was here. He just had to keep going a little bit longer, just a little more, and he would be with them again. Hikaru was moving significantly faster than he was, dragging Keito along behind him, Keito stumbling over his scraped up feet, on trembling legs as he fought to keep up. Hikaru was talking a mile a minute into his ear piece, and after a few moments Keito tuned in, listening to what his teammate was saying.

“Yamada fall back—fall back now! No. No I have him. He’s with me. Yes, Keito! We’re on our way to the plane now. Don’t, by the time you do we’ll be there already. We’ll just meet you there. Kota—Kota I need you to—no Yuto, that’s not why you’re here. No, your job is—I know how you feel. I *do*, but we need you to—fine. Thank you Kota. Chinen, are you ready? Honestly Yuto I wouldn’t get my hopes up for something. He’s a bit of a mess. I mean, truly fucked up.” Hikaru glanced back at Keito over his shoulder, eyes giving him a lingering once over, and Keito knew he looked like death warmed over. He could see it reflected in Hikaru’s face.

“Looks like he’s got all of his body parts though, so that’s something.” Hikaru reported to the team. “He can’t run for shit—” Hikaru turned his attention back to Keito for a brief moment, tugging on his arm a bit. “C’mon Keito, we’re nearly there.” Keito knew he was still crying, his whole body shaking, trembling with exhaustion and emotion, and he nodded, trying to push his body to do just a little bit more. Just for now. It was almost over. It was. Hikaru was here, and he said that they were nearly there.

Nearly there, as it turned out, meant another five blocks, and what felt like a couple hundred flights of stairs before he caught sight of the plane—hovering about five meters over the rooftop Hikaru had led him up to. A rope was let down to them at once, and Hikaru grabbed Keito, pulling him in close to his side and telling him to hold on before snagging the rope and giving it a sharp tug. Keito pressed himself up against Hikaru, wrapping his arms around the older man as tightly as he could and squeezing tight, as they were raised up into the belly of the plane.

As soon as they hit the floor of the plane Keito collapsed at Hikaru’s feet, not wanting to ever move again. But then Takaki and Chinen were there, lifting him up, and Daiki was promising that everything was going to be okay, and there was yelling, *Yuto* was yelling, calling out to him, and he tried to get to his feet, to look for Yuto. He blinked, and then Yuto was there, running toward him, barreling into him, and Chinen was yelling, something about Keito’s injuries and unknown damage, but then Yuto was kissing him, and Keito stopped listening.

Yuto was pressing up against him, his lips desperate and needy against Keito’s own, his fingers digging into Keito’s flesh as if he had to grab on to prove that Keito was really there, and when Yuto pulled back he let out a choked sob before pressing a second kiss to Keito’s lips, long and hard. It hurt a little, Yuto’s hands painful, all of the pressure on his body aggravating wounds, but by the second kiss Keito was kissing Yuto back, only wanting to be closer, to let himself give in to Yuto. He’d never thought he’d see him again. God, he’d missed him so much. He loved him so much.

The moment was ruined by Chinen, the smaller man physically getting in between them and shoving at Yuto until he stumbled backwards, the two of them glaring daggers at each other, Chinen yelling about Keito’s health, and Keito found that without Yuto keeping him standing he wasn’t able to do it anymore, and his legs gave out, and he pitched forward, everything going black as he hit the cool metal floor of the plane. There were a few hazy moments of consciousness, bright lights and something rattling and Chinen’s cute face, brows furrowed, lips pursed, but for the most part Keito slept.

He slept for nearly two straight days. At least, that’s what he was told when he woke up. Chinen had turned his lab into a makeshift hospital, and when he came to Keito was on a bed, strapped up to medical equipment, an IV in his arm, bandages covering almost all of his body he could see, and at first he was confused, and anxious. It took him an almost embarrassing amount of time to figure out that he was back at their base, but then Chinen came in, a cup of coffee in one hand, and after checking the readings on the machines, Keito asked

“What happened?” Chinen frowned.

“What do you mean?” Keito struggled to find words.

“Well...I don’t remember everything.”

“Concussion?” Chinen asked, immediately concerned. Keito nodded. Chinen made to check his eyes, and Keito shook his head.

“I don’t have it anymore. When I woke up...with my captors...I had one.” Chinen sighed, visibly displeased with that information.

“You were gone for nearly six weeks. Everyone was really starting to think we weren’t going to find you. We’ve all been a mess. Especially Yuto, he’s been positively miserable. You should have seen his reaction when Ryutaro got a match for your face on the scanner. If we hadn’t found you I think it would have killed him.” Keito nodded, feeling rather guilty for causing such a big panic.

“I’ve missed you guys too.” Chinen smiled, taking Keito’s hand in his and giving it a small squeeze.

“I know.”

“How did I get captured in the first place?” Keito asked, and Chinen sighed again, taking a swig from his coffee cup.

“I’m not completely sure. I wasn’t there. There was a deal going down on Sarushima island, remember? We went to try and gather intel, and apparently they picked up on the frequency from our comlinks. From what I’ve pieced together they knew we were there practically from the beginning, and the three of you that had gone in—you, Yamada, and Yabu—were all fighting for a while before the rest of the team outside the building caught on. It was a disaster. Everyone came back bloody and upset, and no one saw what had happened to you. A couple of the Dojin-kai died, gunshot wounds, it was in the news, but that’s it. You were just gone. We’ve torn the Dojin-kai’s territory apart, both in Tokyo and their other prefectures. But, we got nothing. And we didn’t get any new intel on Sarushima either.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t taken by the Dojin-kai.” Chinen snorted, sounding frustrated.

“Yeah, we figured that one out.”

“So how did Ryutaro find me?”

“The facial recognition software he designed got a match for you in the suburbs of Sendai, way up in Miyagi. You ran past a liquor store that had CCTV outside their door. He’s had the program running ever since you went missing, and that was our only hit. We just got lucky that Hikaru found you. And then I doctored you up. You were a fucking mess.” Chinen paused, taking another long drag from his coffee mug. “What happened to you? You had an assload of glass embedded in your skin.”

“Well, the glass was probably from the window I jumped out of. This—” Keito gestured to the bullet wound in his shoulder. “—I honestly don’t remember. I woke up with it. The rest of it was for the most part Sonne Gesundheitswesen, or whoever they were. They wanted intel, and I wasn’t talking.” Chinen sighed, picking up a tablet and handing it to Keito, saying

“You have something like three hundred and forty stitches total, and you had four infections I had to clean out, and this—” Chinen flicked the IV drip. “—is fluids for your severe dehydration, and painkillers. You’ve lost over twelve kilos, and I almost put you on a feeding tube, but we figured that we would let you decide if you wanted that. It can be rather unpleasant.” Chinen paused. “You really looked like shit when Hikaru brought you in.” Keito nodded in agreement.

“I felt like shit. I kinda can’t believe I made it. I was giving up when Hikaru found me.” He paused, embarrassed by the confession. “You have no idea how good it was to see you guys. I still don’t quite believe that I’m here.” Chinen raised his eyebrows, lips curling up in a playful smirk, and he said, his tone suddenly light and with the unmistakable inflection of someone telling a joke

“Trust me Keito, we all saw how good it was for you.” Keito blushed, properly embarrassed now, and Chinen continued “I mean, it’s taken the two of you long enough. I honestly had started to think it was never going to happen, but I guess the kidnapping really finally put Yuto’s priorities in order. So that’s one good thing that’s come out of the whole ordeal.” Keito felt his blush spreading as Chinen chattered on, and when he looked up at his friend he found that Chinen had a huge mischievous grin on his face, and Keito understood that it was all just teasing. Still, he had been very public in his display of affection, and it had probably made Chinen uncomfortable.

“I-I’m sorry you had to see—”

“Keito!” Keito looked up over Chinen’s shoulder to see Yuto striding toward them, and the words of his apology died in his throat. Yuto looked amazing, the tight fitting black field uniform accentuating the lines of his long slender body, but the truly stunning part was his face. He was smiling all the way to his eyes, warm and affectionate, and he was so beautiful. Keito found himself smiling back, and Chinen muttered something under his breath, something that Keito was definitely close enough to have heard if he’d wanted too, but in all honesty he couldn’t really be bothered. Because that smile on Yuto’s face was just for him. Chinen huffed, getting up as Yuto came closer, and he turned, calling out to Yuto as they passed by each other

“He’s still on the mend! Be gentle! I had better not have to redo a single one of those stitches!” He looked annoyed at being so blatantly disregarded, but he had a small smile on his face, one that Keito registered only subconsciously, his heart pounding in his chest, something like anticipation, or anxiety bubbling up in his insides. But then when Yuto got close enough, and their eyes met, the feeling in his chest settled, and he reached out as Yuto leaned in, pulling him in for a kiss.

Keito smiled against Yuto’s lips, the warm comfort and joy they instilled in him putting such a big smile on his face that it almost got in the way of kissing Yuto properly. And it was an awesome kiss. Keito had imagined this more times than he could count, but the real thing trumped anything his brain could come up with by far. He leaned into it, and when they finally broke apart Yuto chuckled, looking down at Keito with nothing but affection on his face, and saying

“Well, that’s new.” Keito found himself smiling up at Yuto, and nodding.

“I like it.” His words were met with an even bigger smile from Yuto.

“Me too.” Keito nodded, leaning in for another kiss, and Yuto looked surprised for a moment, but he kissed Keito back. It wasn’t until Keito moved to get closer, and felt the IV line in his arm tug taught that Yuto pulled away, looking concerned. “You need to be taking it easy Keito.” Yuto reminded him, and Keito nodded, flopping back on the bed, suddenly very aware of the fact that he hadn’t brushed his hair or even looked in a mirror in over a month. He had no idea how bad his condition really was. He felt pretty good, but Chinen probably had him on some rather strong painkillers, and he hadn’t tried to do anything straining, like walk.

“Yuto...is there any way I could get a mirror...and maybe some clothes?” Yuto nodded, giving Keito a small smile and patting him on the shoulder. Keito had to grit his teeth to hold back a wince at the action, and luckily Yuto didn’t seem to notice, turning and walking back out the door, promising Keito that he’d be right back with everything he could possibly need. He returned twenty minutes later, with his arms full, and a pack of people behind him.

“They all wanted to see you.” Yuto told him, as he set the items in his arms down next to Keito’s bed, digging through them all and presenting Keito with the options of a mirror, and a container of soup. Keito considered them both for a moment, before reaching for the mirror. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but the reflection looking back at him wasn’t it. He was actually quite clean, someone must have taken it upon themselves to bathe him while he was unconscious, but he was gaunt, his skin pale, face thinner than he remembered. He had stitches on one temple, and his jawline was bruised, a faded mottled mix of greens decorating his skin.

He didn’t really know what to make of himself, and so he set the mirror aside, greeting those members of the team that had come to see him. It was almost everyone, all except Chinen, and Takaki. They all smiled at him, asking him questions and telling him how good he looked and how glad they were that he was okay, and as they talked Yuto started flitting around Keito, gently combing through his hair and getting all of the tangles out before putting it up in what felt like a ponytail.

After the main pleasantries were exchanged someone asked the big ‘*what happened?’* question, and Keito launched into it as best he could trying to remember all of the details, hoping that perhaps now, with the knowledge he was able to obtain his kidnapping would have been worth something. He talked, and Yuto fussed over him, and the others all sat around his bed, listening and asking questions, and honestly Keito hadn’t really noticed that Ryutaro had started tapping feverishly at the screen of his tablet until the younger man yelled, startling everyone, triumph on his face as he declared

“I’VE GOT IT!” There was a stunned moment of silence, and he stared at them all, face alight with the glow of a breakthrough, and they all just stared back for a few moments, waiting for him to explain himself. He got to his feet, words falling fast from his mouth as he spun on his heel and started walking out, head bowed over his tablet. “I think I’ve figured it all out, I just need to—hold on!”


	12. Chapter 12

They all watched Ryutaro go, wide eyed and confused, and a few of them got up and followed him out, yelling questions at his back. Keito didn’t say anything, hoping that this was good. They needed to catch a break. He started trying to eat the soup Yuto had brought him, but after a few bites his stomach started to protest, and feeling nauseous he put the container down. He was just about to ask about any potential clothes when Chinen came back, Takaki trailing behind him, and when Takaki caught sight of him he smiled in greeting, but Chinen was busy fussing with a wad of fabric all bundled up in his arms, and Yuto asked as they got closer

“Did you get it done?”

“Done enough.” Chinen declared. “I didn’t remove everything, but I don’t think he could accidentally kill himself, or someone else with it anymore.” Yuto frowned, looking like he was about to protest, when Chinen added “Or would you rather I tear this thing completely apart, and we just let him go without clothes for the next few days?”

“No thank you!” Keito cut in, still not completely sure what was happening, but realizing that it pertained to him. He wanted clothes. He wanted clothes as soon as he could get them. Yuto gave him a look, but nodded.

“Fine then.” Yuto conceded, and Chinen smiled, saying flippantly

“Excellent!” He turned his attention to Keito. “Yuya and I have been modifying your animal costume for you, taking out the more dangerous features, so that you have something to wear while you’re recovering. Our usual suits are too tight for you while you’re still healing. Your wounds need to be able to breathe more than those outfits can let them. So until you’re better, you get to wear this!” He held out the bear costume he had in his arms. Keito hadn’t seen it in months, and he’d forgotten that Hikaru had asked Chinen to make those. It looked more like a onesie than a costume now, no face mask, and the booties and gloves weren’t included, Keito noted. He had to ask, as he reached out for it

“No more nanobombs?” Chinen nodded.

“No more nanobombs. Or rockets in the sleeves, or poison gas, or lasers. Just some instant darkness powder, a few hidden razor blades that you probably won’t trigger, and the com link in the hood!” Keito looked at the unassuming adult onesie with new trepidation, but Chinen looked immensely proud of himself, so he said thank you, and declared that he would put the outfit on right away. Chinen nodded, telling him that they’d give him some privacy, and he dragged Takaki and the last few lingering teammates out of the room, leaving Keito alone.

It took him nearly a full hour to get the damn thing on. It wouldn’t have been too bad, except that he had to figure out how to remove his IV tube from the port in his arm, and then he struggled to his feet, fighting the fabric of the outfit for a ridiculous amount of time just to figure out which part his legs went into. He had to take breaks, sitting down, his feet raw from running on pavement and over harsh terrain in his escape, sore and scrapped, and his legs had grown unaccustomed to holding up the weight of his body, after spending over a month almost exclusively sitting.

He did eventually figure it all out however, and it was with a sense of triumph that he zipped up his onesie, pulling his oversized hood up to cover his hair. He laid back in his bed, propped up on a pile of pillows, as he worked to hook his IV line back up to his arm, and once that was all set he let himself relax into the pillows, ready to take a small nap. He had accomplished something, he deserved a reward. He settled in, and he was almost asleep when there was the sound of footsteps coming nearer, and he tried to ignore them, not ready to give up on his nap, but then there was a hand on his shoulder, and Yuto’s voice said

“Keito, we have a team meeting in the conference room. I think Ryutaro’s actually got something.” That was important. He should go. Keito opened his eyes, and the room was bright. Damn. He scrunched up his face, squeezing his eyes closed again, and he heard Yuto chuckling, the sound enough to make him sit up, and rub at his eyes, looking up to see Yuto fiddling with his IV set. It was going to be a long walk to the conference room. Keito swung his legs over the side of the bed, and he pushed himself to his feet, his knees protesting as he stood. He took a step away from the bed, and the IV line tugged at his arm, Yuto turning back to him and asking

“Where do you think you’re going?” Keito looked back over his shoulder at Yuto, confused.

“The meeting.”

“Not like that you’re not. Chinen’s been busy while you were gone. We’ve got this for you, until your muscle strength starts coming back.” He pointed to what looked like a wheelchair that was sitting across the room, except it didn’t have any wheels. Keito frowned. He wasn’t crippled. He could still walk to the meeting. Probably. With time.

“Do I have to?” He asked, and Yuto frowned.

“Keito, it took you an hour to get dressed. We’re having the meeting now. I’m sorry, but we can’t wait for you to hobble your way all the way to the conference room.” He paused, giving Keito a long look. “How about you use the chair to get to the meeting, and then afterwards you can try to walk back to bed. Does that sound like a good trade?” Keito sighed. Yuto was right.

“Okay.” He took a few steps in the chair’s direction, Yuto joining him, hooking his IV bag up to a little latch on the chair. “How does it work?”

“Just sit down. You’ll see.” Keito did, his sore feet feeling better as soon as he took his weight off of them. Yuto went around behind the chair, and Keito tilted his head back, trying to watch Yuto, and see what he was doing. Yuto just grinned at him, and he fiddled with something on the back of Keito’s chair, and Keito felt himself being lifted up, and he jumped in surprise, grabbing the arm rests with his hands, his eyes squeezing shut. Yuto laughed. “Keito, it’s okay. It levitates, like that flying clock thing Chinen woke you up with, do you remember? After the Dojin-kai birthday party.” Keito nodded, and while he didn’t loosen his grip on the chair, he did open his eyes, looking around the edge. Yuto laughed again, and Keito glanced up at him, their eyes meeting for a moment.

Yuto leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to Keito’s lips, and Keito could feel himself relaxing.

“You look ridiculous in that bear costume.” Yuto told him, and Keito smiled, pulling the hood down away from his face.

“Don’t we have a meeting or something?”

“Right! Let’s go!” Yuto declared, turning away from Keito and running out the door. For a split second Keito wondered just how Yuto thought he’d follow, but then the chair jerked to life, whizzing after Yuto. He yelped in surprise, immediately grabbing the armrests of the chair again, and he held on tight as they darted through the halls, Yuto running and laughing and calling out to him as he ran ahead, Keito just holding on as best he could, the chair seeming to know just where it was going. They made it to the conference room in record time, and once they’d gotten there and Keito had gotten out of the flying contraption Yuto showed him a small metal bracelet he’d hooked around his wrist that the chair apparently had been programed to follow, Chinen laughing at Keito’s bewildered face throughout the explanation.

Despite the chair’s hasty transport Keito and Yuto were still some of the last people to arrive in the conference room, everyone smiling and laughing about Keito’s fancy contraption and his comical clothing, and Keito loved it. It felt nice, being a part of the group again, and being able to find humor in his poor health. He didn’t like people fretting over him, didn’t want them to be burdened by his inability to keep out of their enemies’ hands. Ryutaro was the last one in, his eyes still on a tablet he had in one hand, fingers tapping furiously at the screen, and they all stopped, waiting for him to speak. It wasn’t until he looked up, and saw Keito that he did, declaring

“You! You’re my favorite person in the whole world!”

“Don’t get fresh now Ryu, I think Yuto’s just planted his flag there.” Inoo teased, and Keito could feel himself blushing, but Ryutaro just waved Inoo’s comment off, going around the table and tapping his tablet, the little device projecting the images of Keito’s captors faces holographically into the center of the table. Keito jumped in surprise.

“Keito, this is them, right?” Keito looked through the seven images, nodding. There was only one person he didn’t recognize.

“That one I don’t know.” He pointed, and Ryutaro frowned. He paused.

“Is that Mister Roy?” Ryutaro’s face lit up in relief.

“That man’s name is Roy Fishbach, yes.” Ryutaro told him. Keito nodded.

“I never saw him, but they would talk about him. I think he was their boss.”

“These men are Sonne Gesundheitswesen?” Yabu asked, looking excited. Ryutaro made a noncommittal grunt.

“Yes and no. They’re the men in Japan behind the distribution of...what were we calling the drug?”

“ASD!” Daiki declared. Ryutaro nodded, continuing.

“ASD, yes. They aren’t the manufacturer. They’re members of an up and coming biker gang from Quebec called Chrome Hearts.”

“Chrome Hearts? What are they, an eighties metal band?” Hikaru asked, Keito smiling at the joke, but confused.

“Hold on. How does a biker gang get a shell company whose name translates to _’Sun Pharmaceuticals?’”_ He asked, and Ryutaro grinned, announcing

“Connections.”

“Care to elaborate?” Hikaru asked sarcastically, and Ryutaro nodded.

"The leader of the gang is this man—commonly referred to as Mister Roy—and he has a cousin..." Ryutaro paused, tapping at the screen of his tablet, a new unfamiliar face projected next to the others. "...Lucas Marburger, who is a part of Canada's Nature's Wellness Pharmaceutical Research Division. I believe he is the one that created and is supplying the gang with the ASD. He's the only one that fits, and he's a position to do so, _and_ he spent an internship in Germany during his university years; so he can probably speak some German." Ryutaro paused, as if waiting for someone to challenge his words.

"Okay." Yabu said, brow furrowed. He leaned back in his chair, and nodded. "Honestly Ryu, that makes a lot of sense. Do you have any proof that it's this guy—Marburger or whatever."

"Not yet. I do have a hack running right now trying to find his assets, to see if we can tie any of his accounts to Sonne Gesundheitswesen, or the Dojin-kai. We should know within twenty-four hours."

"Perfect." Hikaru declared. "Good work Ryu." Ryutaro smiled, obviously proud. "As soon as you know we'll report to HQ. Now that we know this is an international issue we may need to contact the Canadian government; they need to know. Until then...you're all dismissed!" There were words of praise and excitement as the team all got to their feet, and Keito felt relieved. This was good. This was the break they had needed. For now everything was in Ryutaro's hands, and he could focus on a smaller goal of his own—getting back to Chinen's lab on his own two feet. Yuto immediately gave Keito his full attention, and he snapped the metal bracelet to Keito's own wrist, before turning his chair on. It hovered at one side, Yuto flanking him on the other one as Keito walked out the door, and turned down the hallway.

He moved slow, legs sluggish, body trembling slightly as he walked. It was going to be a little while before he was back to his usual self. Yuto kept pace with him, and as they walked Keito apologized, embarrassed that he was hindering Yuto, but Yuto just smiled and slipped his hand into Keito's own, telling him not to worry about it. It was then that Keito realized he had one other thing to worry about.

"Yuto, actually...I want to talk to you about something." Just saying the words made Keito's stomach turn, anxiety hitting him in a wave that surprised him. He hadn't thought he'd be this anxious. Yuto glanced over at him, eyes wide with curiosity, but he stayed silent, listening to Keito speak. "I just...I wanted to talk to you about the kissing...and-and stuff." Yuto's expression didn't change, and he didn't say anything, and Keito felt jittery, the words catching in his throat.

"I just wanted to know how you felt about it all, because I really like you, and I like kissing you, and I don't want you to think...I don't know. Bad things." Yuto gave his hand a squeeze, and Keito realized he'd turned his gaze down on the tile floor. He looked up to see Yuto smiling at him.

"Keito, I have already been given the 'you'd better not hurt him' talk from Yamada, Hikaru, and Takaki. Trust me, I know exactly what I'm getting myself into. I really want to keep kissing you. And I mean, we don't need to make a big thing out of it, or put a label on it if you don't want—it's not like we could get a chance to go out on dates or anything like that—but I definitely want to be more than friends. And I don’t really want you to kiss anyone but me." He paused. "Yama-chan told me you've had a thing for me for a long time..." Keito felt a blush rush up his face. "I'm sorry it took me so long to figure my own feelings out. But, despite my idiocy, do you think we could start this new part of our relationship?" It was Yuto's turn to look nervous, but Keito barely registered that, too wrapped up in the pounding of his heart and the words falling from Yuto's lips, and he said

"Kiss me." Yuto nodded, leaning into Keito and pulling him close, the tension in Keito's body melting away as their lips met. It was a fantastic kiss, and when Yuto pulled away, Keito told him “I don’t want you kissing anyone else either, okay?”

Yuto smiled, a low chuckle rising out of him, and he nodded, Keito laughing a bit as well at the cheesy wording, but he didn’t even care at how silly he was being. Life was looking up. Things were better than he could have hoped for, and the swiftness with which things had changed for him over the course of the past few days had put him in a high. He felt elated, the simple fact that had access to food and water, and wasn’t being beaten every day enough to make him feel like there was nothing better. And on top of that he was kissing Yuto. Life was pretty damn good.


	13. Chapter 13

Keito eventually made it back to his hospital bed, waving to Chinen as he entered the smaller man’s lab, and as soon as he fell into his mattress his eyes fluttered shut. He had only intended to take a small nap, but he didn’t wake until the following afternoon, Chinen smiling at him from across the room and asking him if he slept well, the young inventor fiddling with something immensely tiny under a magnifying lense as he spoke.

“Ryutaro, Hikaru, and Yabu are in a meeting with HQ now; Ryu found some proof of connection between Mister Roy and the Marburger guy. We should have our orders within an hour or so.” Keito nodded, moving to sit up and groaning, his body sore from the exertion it had been through. Chinen chuckled, turning his way, and telling him “I gave you something so that you could sleep. Hey, can you try this on for me really quick?” Keito just stared at him for a few moments, processing everything Chinen had just said. So he’d been drugged. Again. And Chinen wanted him to do something? He rubbed at his eyes, trying to gather his bearings, and Chinen was walking toward him, tweezers outstretched, and Keito found himself nodding.

“Sure. What is it?”

“It’s a prototype I’ve been working on since your kidnapping. They’re contact lenses that are also cameras, so that next time the people at base will have ears _and_ eyes on you guys.” Keito nodded, deciding against pointing out that an EMP would probably take out these electronic camera contacts, just like one had taken out their com links on his last operation, and instead simply tried not to blink as Chinen leaned in, the smaller man telling him to ‘hold still’ as he brought his tweezers up to Keito’s right eye. On reflex Keito wanted to jerk his face away, but he held steady, gritting his teeth until the little device made contact. As soon as it did he couldn’t stand it any longer, his eyes snapping shut, whole body jolting backwards, away from Chinen, as hot sharp pain shot through his eye, tears immediately beginning to stream down his cheeks, his hands coming up on reflex to cover his eye as a whine of pain escaped his lips.

“Okay, so it still needs some work. Just—just stop moving! I can’t take it out unless you stay still!” Chinen’s voice was slightly frantic, and he grabbed Keito by the head, fingers holding him as he talked. “I’m going to need you to open your eyes for me Keito.” Keito whined, any movement of his eyelids causing another sharp pain to shoot through his eye. “I get that it hurts but I can’t take it out if you keep it tucked away! C’mon.” Chinen’s fingers were trying to pry his hands from his face, but Keito wasn’t relenting until Chinen said, scoffing “You just got back from over a month of torture, surely you can grit through this for two seconds so I can _end_ the pain you’re currently feeling?!”

Keito took a deep breath, nodding and whining, and he slowly took his hands away from his eye, Chinen using both hands to pry Keito’s right eye open and pluck the little device out, relief instant. His eyes kept watering long after the camera was out, and Chinen put the contact away, apologizing to Keito, telling him that miniaturizing the technology wasn’t hard, but doing it in a way that interacted well with the human body was proving more difficult than Chinen had anticipated. Chinen looked him over, and told him that he would be fine; although he did have a few scratches on his eye that would probably itch and sting for a day or two before they healed up. Keito nodded, not really feeling up to expressing how upsetting the ordeal had been. He was pretty sure that the look on his face had been enough; Chinen knew.

It was as Chinen was explaining that technically his invention _worked,_ it just also happened to apparently cause extreme pain for the wearer that Yuto came in, taking one look at Keito’s face and frowning, rushing to his side, concerned questions on his lips. It was sweet, and a little surprising just how much hovering Yuto had been doing since Keito had come back, but Keito knew that if their positions were reversed he would probably be much worse. And if he was being honest the attention was rather wonderful. Once Yuto had been convinced that really, everything was fine, he told them that he had brought Keito lunch, and the news that HQ had given the team orders to eliminate all members of the Chrome Hearts gang on Japanese soil, as soon as possible.

The orders were exciting, tension in the air as everyone, especially for Daiki and Yamada, the two assassins spending a great deal of time with their weaponry, in and out of the shooting range. Keito spent the next few days either in Chinen’s lab with him, acting as a guinea pig for all of Chinen’s projects, in Ryutaro’s den of technology, translating everything he could as their youngest teammate hacked his way through what seemed to Keito the entirety of the internet, or with Yuto, either as a passenger on Yuto’s excursions and training races, or cuddled up with him in one of their beds; mostly Yuto’s bed, as he wasn’t allowed back to his own chambers, and Chinen called their affection ‘gross’. They were all tense, waiting for Ryutaro to announce that he had found a window of opportunity for them to strike, but when Keito had asked Ryu about it, he’d declared that the Chrome Hearts had appeared to have left the country.

They weren’t gone for long. It was only two days after Keito had asked the question, and three days after the orders had come in from HQ, that a team meeting was called in the conference room, Ryutaro declaring that not only were the Chrome Hearts returning to Japan, they were returning with a shipment of ASD. A big one; and they were landing on Japanese soil in forty-eight hours. There was a moment of tense silence, before Hikaru declared

“This is what we’ve been waiting for. Let’s get to work. Tell us everything you’ve got Ryu.” They talked for a long time, going over meeting locations and devising a plan. It was an idea that was simple in theory. They would split up, a group of people going after the members of the Chrome Hearts, another group going after the shipment of ASD, while a third party—Chinen and Ryutaro—kept an eye on everything from the base, and were support on coms. It wasn’t until the plan was nearly completely fleshed out that Keito realized _he_ didn’t have a role, and he raised his hand, asking

“What about me? What am I supposed to do?”

“You’ve done your part, Keito.” Hikaru told him, just as Yabu said

“You’re sitting this bit out.”

“What?! No way!” Keito could feel himself becoming upset. He wasn’t just going to sit back, _useless,_ while the rest of them risked their lives.

“Keito, you’re still recovering. You’re not remotely close to being back to your old self.” Chinen told him. He frowned.

“I walked all the way here by myself, with no help!” He declared, and Yamada raised his eyebrows skeptically at him.

“And did you have to stop and rest?” The small assassin asked. Keito fell silent for a few moments, before nodding.

“Yes. But only three times.”

“Keito. There’s no way I’m letting you go back out into the field.”

“What if I just piloted the plane! Then Yuto wouldn’t need to come back and go out again, it would be faster—”

“Keito, no! You’re not getting yourself killed on my watch.” Hikaru declared, a note of finality in his tone. “You’re going to stay here with Chinen and Ryutaro; end of discussion.” Keito felt a wave of guilt wash over him, but Hikaru left no room for argument, and he nodded, sinking into his chair. After the meeting, Yuto took him by the hand, murmuring comforting words as they made the slow walk back to Keito’s bed. It was frustrating, feeling so helpless and useless. He was tired of being a burden. He expressed those feelings to Yuto, who nodded.

“Keito, I know it sucks, and I’m sorry they did this to you. Really, I am. I am very excited about the prospect of getting to hurt these guys. But, in all honesty, if you went on this op, you would be more of a burden than if you stay here. We’re all worried about you, and if you were there everyone would be neglecting their assigned roles—at least a little bit—to keep an eye on you, and make sure you were okay. As miserable as it’s going to be, it will be best if you stay here.” Keito sighed. He knew Yuto was right. “Just, work on your rehab, and get better as fast as you can. That’s all you can do, for now.” Keito nodded, placing a quick kiss on Yuto’s cheek, before Yuto smiled and left, off to start his extensive checks of the vehicles he would be using for their operation.

Keito tried not to mope, ducking out of another of Chinen’s attempts to stick a ‘new and improved, no longer burning—I promise!’ contact camera in his eye, and he headed to their work out area. Yuto was right. All he could do was work on rehabilitating himself, and that was what he was going to do. He was in there for the rest of the day, trying to work all of his muscles, to keep going long after he felt fatigued, and trembled from exhaustion. He was going to do this. He wasn’t going to lay around, he was going to get better. He worked hard, and he didn’t stop until he tried to do a pull up and his arms gave out on him, sending his body crashing to the floor.

He lay there on the floor for a few moments, trying to catch his breath, before he rolled onto his side, and he realized that he was completely and utterly _exhausted,_ fear beginning to creep in as he started to check himself, and he noted that there was no way he had the body strength left to walk back to his bed, much less to even pull himself to his feet and walk out the door. He lay there for a while, weighing his options, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Perhaps if he just rested for a few moments, he could regain some energy, and get himself up and moving. It was a rather futile idea, but he didn’t think he had any other options; their facility was big, the chances of someone just happening to walk by were slim.

He took deep breaths, regulating his breathing and looking around the room. He was rather close to a wall. If he could get closer he could sit up, propped up against it. He scooted himself across the floor, leaning against the wall with a sigh of relief. The silence weighed in on him as he sat there. He’d hoped that some miracle would happen; that if he worked out he would suddenly be back to his old self. That he would be strong. He didn’t want his team to go without him. He didn’t want _Yuto_ to go without him. What if someone got hurt? What if someone didn’t come back? He hadn’t ever been so afraid as he was now that he couldn’t be there, and he had been trying to ignore the fear, not wanting to address it.

Now, barely able to move, the fear pressed in, loud in the silence. Keito could feel it in his chest, welling up and filling his insides, and it spilled over, rolling down his cheeks in hot tears and small sniffles, and he trembled with it, unable to stand the fear of loss. His team were the only family he had. He couldn’t lose them. He couldn’t lose _Yuto._ Not now, not ever. God, what would he do? He was panicking, and he knew it, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be rational. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew the exhaustion had something to do with his emotional spiral, but the tears kept coming, despite that.

“Keito? Keito, there you are. What’s wrong?!” Yuto rushed in as Keito started his stream of apologies, his tall, handsome boyfriend leaning over him, and Keito felt stupid. Now, not only was he laying on the floor, crying; he was also making Yuto worry about him when Yuto had the op to worry about. Stupid. He told Yuto this, in between apologies, and Yuto helped him to his feet, pulling Keito up onto his back and telling him that it was late, that he wasn’t stupid, and that everything was going to be just fine. Keito didn’t really believe him, but he didn’t voice it, falling asleep right there on Yuto’s back, instead.

Keito woke up embarrassed. He had been dramatic and difficult, and he’d let his own idiocy get the better of him. And poor Yuto had been made to deal with it. The embarrassment was the first thing that registered when he opened his eyes in the morning. The second thing that registered was that he wasn’t in his own bed. And he wasn’t alone. The hood of his bear suit had fallen down in his eyes, but he could tell someone was in bed with him, another body pressed up against his own, flush almost all the way from chest to foot. He reached up with one hand, pushing his hood away from his face, and found himself looking into Yuto’s eyes, the other man breaking out into a smile as Keito made eye contact, and murmuring, his voice rough with sleep

“Good morning.” God, he was gorgeous. Keito froze, surprised and embarrassed.

“Good morning.” He paused, and Yuto leaned in, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. When the kiss broke Keito mumbled, feeling a blush flush across his cheeks as he spoke “I’m sorry about yesterday. I was being stupid.” Yuto’s smile faltered just a little, and his brows pushed a little closer, eyes on Keito’s face.

“No. Keito, you just overworked yourself. And you’re stressed. It’s okay.”

“You shouldn’t have had to deal—” Yuto cut Keito off, pressing another, longer kiss to his lips. When that kiss broke, Yuto looked serious.

“Keito, honestly...I’m scared too.” He paused, eyes lingering on Keito’s face. Keito reached up, his shoulder stiff, and he ran his fingers through Yuto’s hair, shifting on the pillow so that their foreheads were touching. Yuto was still looking at him, eyes big and warm and brown, and then he said, an almost playful tone in his voice “You should distract me for a little while.” Keito nodded. Anything for Yuto.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Kiss me. Lots.” Yuto’s words were immediate, eyes serious, and Keito realized he’d missed a few, more subtle tells. But god, it was hot hearing those words fall from Yuto’s lips, and he didn’t waste any time, pulling himself up just enough to kiss Yuto properly, Yuto reaching up with one hand, pulling Keito in to him, pulling him close. It was a great kiss, it was an awesome kiss, and it was followed by another, and another, and _this,_ Keito thought, as Yuto climbed on top of him, dextrous fingers tangling themselves in Keito’s long hair, this had to be a dream, because _damn._

Keito’s hands settled on Yuto’s slender hips, and he pulled Yuto closer on reflex, nipping at Yuto’s bottom lip and rolling his tongue, and Yuto let out a low, guttural noise, pressing in closer, as close as he could possibly get. He broke the kiss to start trailing some down the line of Yuto’s neck, and Yuto whined, fingers tugging on the zipper on Keito’s bear costume, and he’d just put his hands on Keito’s bare chest when there was a yelp from the doorway, and both Keito and Yuto’s heads whipped around to see Takaki standing there, looking mortified.

“Uh, Yuto...we just got word that the Chrome Hearts are two hours out. Hikaru wants you to be ready to leave in five minutes.”

“Oh—okay.” Was all Yuto managed to stutter out before Takaki whirled out of the room, the door snapping shut behind him. Yuto looked down at Keito, placing a long, much more innocent kiss on his lips, before declaring “I guess it’s go time. Wish me luck.”


	14. Chapter 14

Keito got out of bed as Yuto rushed around, slipping into his black bodysuit, and then together they walked up to the hangar, Keito grateful that Yuto’s room was much closer to it than his own. The rest of the team was already there, huddled in a circle around Chinen, and when they got closer Chinen waved for Yuto to come over, before turning his attention back to Daiki, their sniper leaning in, as Chinen put something in his eye. Keito cringed on reflex, but Daiki didn’t, instead turning to Ryutaro and asking

“Did it work?” Ryu had a tablet in one hand, and he tapped at it a few times before nodding.

“You’re all set.” He declared, Daiki smiling. Chinen must have gotten those camera contacts to work, Keito mused. He positioned himself at Ryutaro’s side, asking. Ryu nodded, lips pursed, head still bowed over the tablet in his hands.

“Chii usually does all of his product testing on me, so when you were no longer a complacent guinea pig he just reverted back to testing the contacts on me. He worked out the last glitches late last night.” Keito nodded, wondering how Ryutaro could do that on a regular basis, and watching Yuto receive his own eye camera. Yuto turned to Ryutaro, the smaller man giving him a thumbs up. Yuto smiled, treating Ryu to a thumbs up of his own, and Keito glanced down at Ryutaro’s tablet screen, finding it split up into boxes, one for each person going out on the op’s camera, and it was rather bizarre to look down and see what they saw.

There was a moment where the whole team was milling around, not really accomplishing much, everyone in a state of limbo, a nervous energy cracking through them. If everything went according to plan then their mission would be over. This was it. It was exciting, and terrifying, and Keito once again felt frustration at his weak body hit him like a truck. He didn’t want to stay. He didn’t want to just watch, and hope that things would go okay. He wanted to be able to _help,_ to be on the ground and ensure that everyone would come home, safe and sound.

“Is everyone ready?” Yabu asked, and there were nods and small words of assurance from the six others going out, and Keito could feel himself getting emotional, and he swallowed a lump in his throat, and said

“Bye. Kick ass out there.” He ran his eyes over Yuto’s face, remembering that after the last op they had gone out on, he’d thought he may never see it again. Yuto seemed to be feeling rather emotional himself, and he crossed the space separating them, leaning in and kissing Keito almost desperately, his lips rough, hands balling into the front of Keito’s panda onesie. The action was met with cat calls and teasing, and Keito was a little embarrassed, but he didn’t really care. When the kiss broke Yuto didn’t move away right away, instead murmuring

“We’ll be back soon. It’ll be fine. I promise.” Keito nodded, and it was then that Yuto turned, walking away. Chinen came over, flanking Ryutaro’s other side, and the three of them watched as the rest of their team all scurried around the van Yuto had chosen for the op. Keito pulled the hood of his bear suit up, turning the built in communications system on, and listened as they talked to each other, asking questions and exclaiming, excitement in their voices. It made something in his chest ache to listen to them, and he wanted to go, wanted to throw himself into the van with them, but he stood, unmoving, and instead he watched as Yuto pulled the van out of their hangar, and into the bustle of Tokyo.

“Let’s go watch.” Chinen declared, as soon as the van was out of sight. Ryutaro nodded, and Keito, slightly bewildered, followed his companions out of the hall, as in his ear Hikaru went over the subteams and their goals for the op. Daiki, Yamada, and Hikaru were going to the Chrome Hearts’ last known base to take them out. Yabu, Takaki, and Inoo were going to the Port of Tokyo to intercept the ASD and get it into the hands of the Japanese government, while Yuto would be dropping everyone off before returning for the plane, zooming back out to airlift the confiscated materials back to their base, along with the rest of the team if needed.

Chinen and Ryutaro led him to Ryutaro’s den of technology, and Keito was surprised to find that they had transformed it since he’d last been inside. Ryutaro had video feeds projected onto every wall, and not just the contact cameras, any cctv or traffic cams Yuto’s van passed by were there as well. There were computers all over the place, and there, in the middle of it all, was a large stack of pizza boxes, Chinen popping the lid on the uppermost box and fishing out a slice, before plopping down in Ryutaro’s lap. Ryutaro had taken his usual seat, and he gestured silently for Keito to take the spare to his right, as all around them their teammates voices and sights were projected.

Shocked by the whole thing, Keito sank into his chair, eyes glued to the walls. Chinen reached up, grabbing another slice of pizza out of the top box and handing it to Keito.

“You haven’t eaten yet today, right? Here.” The little inventor shoved the food into Keito’s hand, and he brought it to his lips, barely even registering the food, eyes glued to the projections on the walls. Neither Chinen nor Ryu seemed to be remotely awed by the set up, and Keito asked

“Do you guys do this every time?”

“Yeah?” Ryutaro’s tone suggested that the question was rather stupid, and Keito shut up, just letting his eyes travel over the projections. It was a little jarring, seeing the inside of the van from seven different points of view all at once, and it took some adjusting, Keito’s eyes flicking through the contact camera feeds. As the van moved Ryu tapped at three separate keyboards, the traffic cam feeds changing to follow their team’s route, and Chinen snuggled into Ryutaro’s lap, letting the younger man reach around him to continue his work.

“T minus three minutes!” Yuto declared, Keito watching as Daiki, Yamada, and Hikaru all nodded, the three of them looking focused as they did one last check of their weaponry. It was odd to see Hikaru as decked out in guns and knives as the two, smaller men. Yamada and Daiki were jittery, excited, and probably anxious. Keito felt a lump rise in his throat as Yuto pulled the van to a stop, and they all jumped out, Daiki swinging a black bag over his shoulder as his feet touched the pavement. He could hear the three of them talking, and he watched as they separated, Daiki splitting off to find a high place to set up his sniper rifle and his bazooka, while Hikaru and Yamada went around the building on opposite sides, hoping to cage the members of the Chrome Hearts in, and then pick them off like fish in a barrel.

Yuto and the rest of the team were on the move, tearing through the streets of Tokyo, and Keito barely had time to wonder how it was they were able to go so fast, despite all of the traffic, before an incessant tapping caught his attention, and he turned his head to see that Ryutaro was hunched over Chinen’s tiny body, arms wrapped around him to reach a laptop, and he was typing furiously, Keito watching as he manually changed the traffic lights one by one along Yuto’s route to green, just in time for the van to go whirring through the intersections. It was all planned, and Keito felt some of the tight anxiety in his chest wane as he realized that even from here, Ryu was looking out for the rest of them.

Yuto was almost to the port when Daiki announced through the com links that he was all set and ready to go. Keito’s eyes flicked through the feeds, looking for Daiki’s camera. He found it, Daiki already peering through his scope, and to Keito’s surprise he could see people in Daiki’s crosshairs, one or two of the faces familiar in a way that made Keito’s blood run cold.

“I could just blow this whole place up.” Daiki declared, and Hikaru was hasty to reply.

“Daiki no. We’ve already been in the news once this mission, and HQ chewed me out for over two hours for that. I am not sitting through another one of those meetings. This building needs to remain intact. Period.”

“Fine, fine. That’s just so boring.” Daiki sighed, as Yuto declared

“Nearly there! You guys ready?” Inoo, Takaki, and Yabu all let out sounds of affirmation, and Yuto took one last turn, before the last of his passengers hopped out of the van, and he declared

“I’m headed back for Rosalin; keep me updated!” He’d barely gotten the words out before there was the harsh sound of gunfire, and Keito jumped in surprise, his head whipping around, searching through the camera feeds, his heart in his throat. It was Yamada, he realized after a moment, the little assassin doing his job. Keito found his eyes glued to the feed from Yamada’s contact camera, watching, amazed, as Yamada mowed down assailants with zero hesitation.

Then there were more sounds of gunfire, and he realized that Hikaru had started firing too. Daiki was watching them through his scope, and Keito watched through Daiki’s camera as one gang member tried to make a run for it, barely getting out the door before Daiki took him down. It was like watching some bizarre video game, and it was amazing just how methodical Daiki and Yamada were. They had the killing down to an art, practiced and perfected, and they tore through any assailants with the flick of a finger, their feeds silent but for the sounds of their guns.

In Keito’s ear Hikaru yelped, and Keito felt nauseous, listening as Yamada called out for Hikaru, the nausea churning his stomach when Hikaru didn’t respond. Hikaru’s camera was still moving, his head turning, and Keito realized, fear dropping into his stomach like a bucket of ice, that Hikaru had been shot, his fingers coming away from his stomach bloody. There was the sound of more gunfire, Daiki covering Yamada as Yamada searched for Hikaru, before Hikaru finally spoke.

“I’m fine. I’m fine, sorry.”

“No you’re not, stupid.” Daiki declared, before saying. “Up one more set of stairs, Yama-chan.”

“It’s not life threatening. I’ll be fine.” Hikaru announced. In their ears Yabu started asking questions, his voice high and laced with panic, and it was then that Yamada found Hikaru, Keito watching as Yamada leaned in to see the wound, asking

“Chinen, what do you think?” As Yamada talked Daiki picked off a few men that had been closing in on them while Yamada had his guard down. Keito gasped, and had to remind himself to breathe, his heart racing. Chinen stood up from his place on Ryutaro’s lap, walking closer to the projection to get a good look, before nodding and saying

“He’ll be fine. Yabu, calm down.” There was an audible sigh of relief, and Hikaru said

“Kota, just do your job. They’ll look out for me until the op is over.”

“Right.” Yabu’s response was strong, the panic in his tone gone. Keito watched as Yamada helped Hikaru to his feet, not really listening as Inoo and Takaki began talking, his eyes barely flicking to their camera feeds, simply noting that they were talking to some uniformed officials, people that worked at the dock, before returning to Yamada’s camera. He had Hikaru leaning into his side, one arm wrapped around Hikaru’s waist, the other extended out in front of him, handgun gleaming in the artificial lighting of the building. He climbed the stairs, and between himself and Daiki, they seemed to be holding their own, despite the handicap. Almost as fast as it started, it was over, silence falling, Yamada asking

“Daiki, how many was that?” There was a pause, and in Daiki’s camera feed Keito could see him counting on his fingers.

“All of them! We should be in the clear. I’ll cover you, if you want to start making your way to the roof.”

“Sounds good.” Yamada declared, Hikaru too nodding.

“I’m back at base now!” Yuto’s voice filtered in, and Keito’s eyes found his feed, watching as Yuto dashed toward his beloved plane, barely in the pilot’s seat before his fingers were flicking through the controls, preparing for takeoff. “I can swing by and pick you up first, and then go to get the Deception Duo, Yabu, and the drugs, if that would be better. What do you think Yabu?” There was a long silence, and then Takaki let out a growl of frustration, and he tackled the man he and Inoo had been talking too. Yabu’s voice came over the coms as he watched Takaki and Inoo knock the uniformed official out.

“Sounds good. We’re going to need a bit more time. The customs agents have been less than helpful.”

“D’you need the shipment number again?” Ryutaro asked, turning away from the computer he had been at and going to another one.

“Sure.”

“Okay. 0ZQRT8874925FN71ASJ6339B.”

“Thanks Ryu. C’mon guys.” Inoo snatched the tablet that the now unconscious customs agent had been holding off of the concrete slab, passing it to Yabu, and after a few moments of tapping Yabu pointed, declaring that the ASD was ‘that way’, and the three of them took off running. Yamada and Hikaru meanwhile had made it to the roof of their building, the two of them looking over each other as they sat and waited for Yuto to come. They were both covered in blood. It was sprayed across their faces and chests, running down their arms, and after a moment Yamada smiled, big and bright and happy, and he leaned in close to Hikaru, turning his com link off as he spoke. It was easy to read his lips though, through the feed from Hikaru’s contact camera. _‘We did it.’_

Daiki began deconstructing his long range weaponry, declaring that he’d go and meet Yamada and Hikaru, doing an extra sweep of the building to confirm the identities of the men they’d killed as we worked his way up to the roof, and it truly seemed like those three were in the clear, Keito turning his attention to Inoo’s group. They were no longer running, the three of them all standing around a huge metal shipping container, Inoo himself fiddling with a lock on the roll up door, his lock picking kit out. Takaki was standing lookout, and Yabu was bouncing on his heels, obviously impatient, his camera feed jerking up and down harshly in a way that made Keito’s head hurt if he looked at it for more than a few seconds. It was a tense moment, drawn out in Inoo’s struggle with the lock, but then there was a click, a smile bloomed on Inoo’s face, and they were in.

Keito watched as the three of them began compiling boxes, Yabu climbing up on top of the shipping container to keep lookout as Takaki and Inoo passed him the shipment of ASD, ready for when Yuto came to get it. Yuto, meanwhile, had just made it to Hikaru, Yamada, and Daiki’s location, and he flew low over the buildings, hovering as Yamada and Hikaru made their way up the rope ladder and into the belly of the plane, Daiki close behind. There was hurried talk from them once they’d made it in the plane, and Daiki and Yamada began working on patching Hikaru up as Yuto made off toward the dock. Takaki, Yabu, and Inoo were about two thirds of the way done emptying out the shipping container when Yuto declared that he was heading in their direction, the three of them picking up their pace, just barely finishing when Yuto’s plane came into sight.

Yuto lowered down a huge tarp, suspended by the corners with rope, and the Deception Duo and Yabu quickly filled it up, before climbing on top of the amazing pile of drugs and disappearing into the plane. Keito watched, his hope swelling in his chest, as they were lifted into the plane, and as soon as the doors shut there were whoops and yells of celebration, laughter and exclamations of excitement and disbelief. They had done it! They’d succeeded. Keito found himself exclaiming too, and he stood up, throwing his arms around Chinen and Ryutaro. They’d been successful! The mission was over. Now, all that was left was for the rest of the team to come home.

Keito moved as quickly as he could—which was something like a slow jog—back to the hangar, Chinen and Ryutaro flanking him on either side as he moved. He was anxious to see the rest of the team, ready to see just how bad Hikaru’s wound was, ready to scoop Yuto up in his arms. They made it too the hangar a few minutes before the plane did, and those minutes were immensely tense for Keito, one final fear that something could still go wrong nagging in the back of his mind.

He needn’t have worried. As soon as the plane landed the doors spilled open and his teammates came rushing out. Keito ran to meet them, wrapping them in hugs and congratulations, and shedding tears of relief. The last ones out were Yabu, Hikaru, and Yuto, the two taller ones supporting Hikaru, one on each side as they stepped out of the plane. Keito made his way over, coming to stand in front of them, and despite how bloody he was, Hikaru smiled, beaming at Keito, and he said

“We did it!” Keito nodded, the elation he’d been feeling tainted by worry for Hikaru, and Hikaru must have noticed, because his smile became softer, and he said “Keito, I’m fine. You’re still hurt worse than me.” Keito nodded, and Chinen swooped in, taking Yuto’s place at Hikaru’s side, already talking to him as he whisked Hikaru off. As soon as Yuto was free he pulled Keito too him, a huge grin on his face, and Keito leaned in, kissing him. He could taste Yuto’s excitement on his tongue, and he felt it welling in his chest, infectious.

“That was amazing. You were amazing.” Keito told his boyfriend, as soon as their lips separated. Yuto didn’t reply, instead leaning in and kissing him again. Keito was happy to kiss back, and it wasn’t until that kiss ended that Yuto spoke, still smiling.

“You’re so hot.” That wasn’t what Keito was expecting, and he laughed, relief and happiness at their success heady. He could feel himself blushing as Yuto pulled the hood of his bear onesie out of his eyes. “Can we please just go back to my room and make out the rest of the day? I really, really just want to do that.” Keito nodded, a smile of his own plastering itself across his cheeks, and Yuto pulled him into a hug, before nodding back and saying “Awesome. Let’s go.”

A few days later, after the ASD had been shipped off to HQ, and the Chrome Hearts had been confirmed to be wiped out, they all gathered in the conference room for one last debriefing with Higashiyama. He congratulated them on their hard work, and informed the team that Canada had cooperated fully in destroying any last remnants of the drug smuggling chain left on their soil. Their first mission was over. Keito was just wondering what would become of the team, when Higashiyama clapped his hands together, and declared

“I hope you have enjoyed these past few days of rest. I have another mission for you.”


End file.
